Times Magazine Cover
September 28, 2010
Mr Richard Stengel, Managing Editor
Time Magazine
PO Box 61350
Tampa, Fla. 333661-1350
Dear Mr. Stengel,
“Horton Hears a Who” is a delightful children’s story which teaches the adult message that even the smallest voice, in concert with many other voices, may be the one particular voice needed to cause something of great importance to happen. With such freedom to speak, especially by a voice that has the ears and eyes of millions, there should come the responsibility to speak fairly and truthfully. Time Magazine, as regards its current cover regarding Israel shows how blatantly partisan it is becoming.
The Nazis bragged that it was a long, slow, and steady voice spoken into the ears of willing participants that enabled them to establish the thinking that the Jews were vermin and therefore worthy of annihilation. That was possible because Jew hatred was just under the surface in Christian Europe and all it needed was a campaign through the media of slanted reports and overt lies to rally support for unleashing the mass murder of Jews. Nazi propagandists knew exactly what they were doing. When enough Nazi “Whos” were heard, millions of people were slaughtered, by design, in the Holocaust.
You, in your capacity as the editor of a widely read magazine, are certainly not a Nazi, but you also are a “Who” as is everyone who writes and reports for you. Your voice and theirs are heard, seen, and read by an audience who does have members who have within them the inclination to hate and murder Jews. Some have the inclination to stand by and watch. Slanted versions of articles such as the cover story stating that Israel has no interest in a peace with the Arab Palestinians is a blatant lie, and history informs us that no less than ten attempts have been made since 1948 and each attempt was thwarted by the Arabs.
Over the years, news reports whitewashing the Palestinians, deliberate omission of hateful speeches delivered by Imans in Mosques, bias reporting of interviews, etc., are all cumulative and contribute to that relentless anti-Jewish, anti-Israel campaign of hatred and delegitimization which is supported world wide by Arabs, Arabists, and the media on the Left.
Information travels so quickly these days, and Time Magazine’s anti-Israel biased voice may be the one voice needed to send some extremist or just some Arab supporter into a synagogue or Jewish school with a gun or bomb. You just may be the “Who” some angry “Horton” hears that sends him or her over the top. And your statement to the effect that provocative articles and covers sell magazines no matter what the effects says to me that you and Time Magazine have lost whatever moral compass you might have had.
My baby cousin was torn in half by two Nazi soldiers as her parents were forced to watch. While waiting their turn to be shot, they escaped into the forest. Had this been an Arab atrocity, I believe you would not have reported the incident had one of your reporters been there. Such reporting would have inflamed the murderers and endangered your reporters. Today, reporters acquiesce to Arab demands for silence in the disputed territories because they do not dare report what the Palestinians do for fear of their lives or for fear of being expelled. The Arabs do not want the truth out there and you comply which makes you culpable for the on going anti-Israel narrative out here.
Your cover enables the haters to continue to press the deligitimitization of Israel and dismantling of the Jewish State. Either you do not understand how the cumulation of overt lies, biased magazine covers, omissions and half truths offered by the media, contribute to the ultimate murder of people, or you just don’t care about anything other than the bottom line. The bias you and your editorial staff allows, enables terrorists to develop rationalizations for their evil intentions and the rationales for feeling vindicated for those intentions.
You own responsibility for helping to create an environment in which Jew hatred festers and grows.
Al-Jezeera reported on 9/11 that Israel was behind the attack and that no Jews were killed in the attack. Later, Al-Jezeera played a tape where Osama bin Laden took full responsibility for the attack, but I did not see Al-Jezeera voice a retraction of their original report. The hateful lie works to the Palestinian’s political advantage and there are people in America who actually believe that the Israelis were behind the attack. These are some of your readers.
Some even believe that our government was behind the attack. These are also some of your readers. I didn’t see any newspapers publishing the number of Jews or Israelis murdered in 9/11. That would have confronted the lie. Nor did I hear any news anchor declare how ludicrous the charge was. There were numbers of people from other nations cited in the murder count, but Jews and Israelis were not included. Could that have been by design? The lie stands even though you and I know of many Jews who died in the towers and on the planes.
Your cover’s bias and Mr. Vick’s slant do not speak well of either of you or your or your magazine. You are not making the world a better place by your bias or slanted reporting. Yours may be the single voice needed to give some hater the reason he or she needs to kill. Please reconsider what you are doing, and your editorial policy.
Also, publishing nine letters of outrage on the part of the Americans in response to the article does not go far enough. You need a full page apology, and you also need to tell Mr. Vick that in correcting his error, he needs to tell the story of the dozen or so serious attempts on the part of Israel to make peace with her Arab neighbors since 1948. That may begin to ease the hostility towards you and your magazine. And please, don’t insult me with a form letter reply. Just do what’s right.
Sadly,
Leonard H. Berman
cc Jeffrey L. Bewkes, Chairman & CEO
May 5, 2011
I shall not re-subscribe to Time Magazine as long as the management continues to print Mr. Vick’s anti-Israel bias and his selective facts. Selling out copies with inflammatory headlines and stories may be important for your bottom line, but selling out a people to make a buck is unconscionable.
L. H. Berman
Mr Richard Stengel, Managing Editor
Time Magazine
PO Box 61350
Tampa, Fla. 333661-1350
Dear Mr. Stengel,
“Horton Hears a Who” is a delightful children’s story which teaches the adult message that even the smallest voice, in concert with many other voices, may be the one particular voice needed to cause something of great importance to happen. With such freedom to speak, especially by a voice that has the ears and eyes of millions, there should come the responsibility to speak fairly and truthfully. Time Magazine, as regards its current cover regarding Israel shows how blatantly partisan it is becoming.
The Nazis bragged that it was a long, slow, and steady voice spoken into the ears of willing participants that enabled them to establish the thinking that the Jews were vermin and therefore worthy of annihilation. That was possible because Jew hatred was just under the surface in Christian Europe and all it needed was a campaign through the media of slanted reports and overt lies to rally support for unleashing the mass murder of Jews. Nazi propagandists knew exactly what they were doing. When enough Nazi “Whos” were heard, millions of people were slaughtered, by design, in the Holocaust.
You, in your capacity as the editor of a widely read magazine, are certainly not a Nazi, but you also are a “Who” as is everyone who writes and reports for you. Your voice and theirs are heard, seen, and read by an audience who does have members who have within them the inclination to hate and murder Jews. Some have the inclination to stand by and watch. Slanted versions of articles such as the cover story stating that Israel has no interest in a peace with the Arab Palestinians is a blatant lie, and history informs us that no less than ten attempts have been made since 1948 and each attempt was thwarted by the Arabs.
Over the years, news reports whitewashing the Palestinians, deliberate omission of hateful speeches delivered by Imans in Mosques, bias reporting of interviews, etc., are all cumulative and contribute to that relentless anti-Jewish, anti-Israel campaign of hatred and delegitimization which is supported world wide by Arabs, Arabists, and the media on the Left.
Information travels so quickly these days, and Time Magazine’s anti-Israel biased voice may be the one voice needed to send some extremist or just some Arab supporter into a synagogue or Jewish school with a gun or bomb. You just may be the “Who” some angry “Horton” hears that sends him or her over the top. And your statement to the effect that provocative articles and covers sell magazines no matter what the effects says to me that you and Time Magazine have lost whatever moral compass you might have had.
My baby cousin was torn in half by two Nazi soldiers as her parents were forced to watch. While waiting their turn to be shot, they escaped into the forest. Had this been an Arab atrocity, I believe you would not have reported the incident had one of your reporters been there. Such reporting would have inflamed the murderers and endangered your reporters. Today, reporters acquiesce to Arab demands for silence in the disputed territories because they do not dare report what the Palestinians do for fear of their lives or for fear of being expelled. The Arabs do not want the truth out there and you comply which makes you culpable for the on going anti-Israel narrative out here.
Your cover enables the haters to continue to press the deligitimitization of Israel and dismantling of the Jewish State. Either you do not understand how the cumulation of overt lies, biased magazine covers, omissions and half truths offered by the media, contribute to the ultimate murder of people, or you just don’t care about anything other than the bottom line. The bias you and your editorial staff allows, enables terrorists to develop rationalizations for their evil intentions and the rationales for feeling vindicated for those intentions.
You own responsibility for helping to create an environment in which Jew hatred festers and grows.
Al-Jezeera reported on 9/11 that Israel was behind the attack and that no Jews were killed in the attack. Later, Al-Jezeera played a tape where Osama bin Laden took full responsibility for the attack, but I did not see Al-Jezeera voice a retraction of their original report. The hateful lie works to the Palestinian’s political advantage and there are people in America who actually believe that the Israelis were behind the attack. These are some of your readers.
Some even believe that our government was behind the attack. These are also some of your readers. I didn’t see any newspapers publishing the number of Jews or Israelis murdered in 9/11. That would have confronted the lie. Nor did I hear any news anchor declare how ludicrous the charge was. There were numbers of people from other nations cited in the murder count, but Jews and Israelis were not included. Could that have been by design? The lie stands even though you and I know of many Jews who died in the towers and on the planes.
Your cover’s bias and Mr. Vick’s slant do not speak well of either of you or your or your magazine. You are not making the world a better place by your bias or slanted reporting. Yours may be the single voice needed to give some hater the reason he or she needs to kill. Please reconsider what you are doing, and your editorial policy.
Also, publishing nine letters of outrage on the part of the Americans in response to the article does not go far enough. You need a full page apology, and you also need to tell Mr. Vick that in correcting his error, he needs to tell the story of the dozen or so serious attempts on the part of Israel to make peace with her Arab neighbors since 1948. That may begin to ease the hostility towards you and your magazine. And please, don’t insult me with a form letter reply. Just do what’s right.
Sadly,
Leonard H. Berman
cc Jeffrey L. Bewkes, Chairman & CEO
May 5, 2011
I shall not re-subscribe to Time Magazine as long as the management continues to print Mr. Vick’s anti-Israel bias and his selective facts. Selling out copies with inflammatory headlines and stories may be important for your bottom line, but selling out a people to make a buck is unconscionable.
L. H. Berman