CNN Navigates Raw Emotions in Its Coverage From Israel
In a move that CNN said was unrelated to the controversy, it also began a five-part series on the victims of suicide bombers on the CNN service shown on Israel and around the world, CNN International, with Wolf Blitzer as its host.

Taken together, the moves were interpreted by Israeli and Palestinian officials, media critics and reporters covering the conflict as an appeasement of CNN's critics in Israel and the United States.

And they have led to bad feelings among some inside CNN. "It appears as if we're in an unseemly rush to try to fix things, and I think we're going to dig ourselves into a deeper hole if we continue this course," said one CNN staff member in Jerusalem, who said complaints from Israelis to the office there were coming through loudest and with the most ferocity.

"People who are really examining the issues closely would see CNN is doing first-rate journalistic work," Mr. Jordan said. "And we are not going to kowtow to one side or the other."

Still, the series drew complaints from Palestinians. "Do we have to pay for the statements of Ted Turner?" said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. "I can't believe that CNN is giving five segments a half-hour each to the Israelis without the courtesy of showing one segment on the Palestinian victims. I hate to see that the pressure on CNN has affected their objectivity, as reflected in the Blitzer report." He said CNN should do a similar series on civilian Palestinian victims of Israeli military operations. CNN said it regularly covered the plights of Palestinian victims.

Palestinians and their supporters complain that CNN, and American media in general, neglect the human face of this conflict when it comes to Palestinians and often leave out their political argument. Hasan Abdel Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organization's representative in Washington, said though suicide bombers are shown often on CNN, "Have you ever seen the face of an Israeli soldier who has killed Palestinians?"

And, he added, when scores of Palestinian children are killed, "that's `collateral damage.' " According to the Reuters news agency, 1,428 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have died in the conflict since September 2000.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/01/business/media/01CNN.html