Comments on: An Israeli journalist’s guide to handling IDF obfuscation http://coteret.com/2009/12/09/an-israeli-journalists-guide-to-handling-idf-obfuscation/ News, analysis and opinion from the Israeli Hebrew print and electronic media Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:50:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: An Israeli journalist’s guide to handling IDF obfuscation, Part II - Blog Post http://coteret.com/2009/12/09/an-israeli-journalists-guide-to-handling-idf-obfuscation/#comment-7212 Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:21:47 +0000 http://coteret.com/?p=702#comment-7212 [...] to questioning of his statements, was caught off guard. Golan's December 4 2009 column is a blow-by-blow account of how a journalist can sink his teeth into a defence bureaucrat's calf and hold on like a [...]

]]> By: An Israeli journalist’s guide to handling IDF obfuscation, Part II - Blog Post http://coteret.com/2009/12/09/an-israeli-journalists-guide-to-handling-idf-obfuscation/#comment-269 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:24:21 +0000 http://coteret.com/?p=702#comment-269 [...] to questioning of his statements, was caught off guard. Golan's December 4 2009 column is a blow-by-blow account of how a journalist can sink his teeth into a defence bureaucrat's calf and hold on like a [...]

]]> By: An Israeli journalist’s guide to handling IDF obfuscation, Part II « Coteret http://coteret.com/2009/12/09/an-israeli-journalists-guide-to-handling-idf-obfuscation/#comment-263 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:09:25 +0000 http://coteret.com/?p=702#comment-263 [...] unused to questioning of his statements, was caught off guard. Golan’s December 4 2009 column is a blow-by-blow account of how a journalist can sink his teeth into a defense bureaucrat’s calf and hold on like a [...]

]]> By: Alan Abbey http://coteret.com/2009/12/09/an-israeli-journalists-guide-to-handling-idf-obfuscation/#comment-202 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:08:30 +0000 http://coteret.com/?p=702#comment-202 No surprise, here, really. “Beat” correspondents on any beat at any major media organization in Israel or elsewhere are usually the last to break a big scoop – unless it is the last story they write on that beat. Assigned correspondents – whether they are at the White House, City Hall, Police HQ or elsewhere, in Israel, UK, USA, France, or any other “democracy,” are reliant upon their sources for their daily bread and butter.

When I was a journalist, the only real “scoops” I got – not carefully calculated leaks – were when I was not on the “beat” that I wrote about. So, while Israeli reporters can be taken to task for pushing political agendas, being lazy, and being sloppy and inaccurate, it’s really not fair to take them to task for not getting scoops on their beat. In that instance, they’re no better (no worse) than all other beat journalists everywhere.

As for foreign correspondents, what do they care about 2-bit, penny-ante institutional logrolling and corruption. Not their job, either.

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