Chris McGreal
Chris McGreal is a reporter for The Guardian who frequently covers Middle East issues.
Chris McGreal started in journalism with the BBC, covering Mexico and Central America. In 1985 he moved to The Independent, and then to The Guardian in 1992. He covered Africa for ten years, and then became The Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent in 2002.
Controversy over "Worlds Apart" article
In a controversial Guardian special report published in 2006, McGreal, who has covered both apartheid South Africa and Israel in his career, compared the two and alleged numerous similarities, citing the United States Department of State's annual human rights report for 1999.[1] Among other claims, McGreal alleged that Israel's Population Registration Act is similar to an apartheid era South African Act of the same name. The latter categorized South Africans according to racial definitions in order to determine who could live in what land. McGreal alleges that the Israeli act "serves a similar purpose by distinguishing between nationality and citizenship. Arabs and Jews alike can be citizens, but each is assigned a separate 'nationality' marked on identity cards (either spelled out or, more recently, in a numeric code), in effect determining where they are permitted to live, access to some government welfare programmes, and how they are likely to be treated by civil servants and policemen." [2].
Extensive responses to McGreal's allegations were offered by several media watchdog organizations, including the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America[3][4] [5], the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre [6]; Engage[7] and Honest Reporting[8] which viewed his claims as false and defamatory. The Guardian's letters editor reported that "more than 100 letters on the subject had been directed at the page, with roughly three endorsing the decision to deal with the subject, to every two against, most of the latter rejecting any apartheid analogy." [9]
Other Criticism
Arab Media Watch has complained that, though an "otherwise excellent Jerusalem correspondent", he once wrote an article about rising British anti-Semitism that they considered "one-sided".[1]
References
- ^ United States Department of State's annual human rights report for 1999
- ^ Chris McGreal, Worlds apart, The Guardian, February 5, 2006
- ^ Lee Green, Gilead Ini, Steven Stotsky, "CAMERA ALERT: Guardian portrays Israel as an Apartheid State Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, February 8, 2006
- ^ Guardian Defames Israel with False Apartheid Charges - Further distortions exposed in March 8th update, CAMERA, February 20, 2006
- ^ Guardian's False Apartheid Charges—Part II, CAMERA, February 23, 2006
- ^ Response to the Guardian's G2 supplement - Part II, Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), 8 February 2006
- ^ Engage blog article, Feb. 8, 2006
- ^ Guardian Promotes Apartheid Slur, from Honest Reporting, February 12, 2006
- ^ The readers' editor on ... a debate about Israel and apartheid South Africa , The Guardian, February 13, 2006
External links
Articles by McGreal
- Worlds Apart Feb. 6, 2006.
- Rising UK anti-semitism blamed on media Jan. 25, 2005.
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