Court Rebukes Media for Slanted Report

The Ethics Court of the Israeli Press Association has convicted journalist Ron Ben-Yishai and Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s largest daily newspaper, of failing to check for accuracy in a story published last November accusing Mordechai Vanunu of passing bomb-making information to Palestinian inmates at Ashkelon prison.

Without deciding on the facts in dispute, the court ordered the newspaper to publish much of its 13-point ruling, which took the newspaper and its reporter to task for failing to seek balancing comment from Vanunu, his lawyer, or the Prison Service, all of whom disputed the report.

The complaint to the court was brought by Rayna Moss, representing the Israeli Committee for Vanunu and for a Middle East Free of Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons.