Second Draft is ready to launch the activist portion of their project and is actively fund-raising. Please give the announcement a look here: Second Draft - Our Declaration of War
Good question! Here is a quick answer. The current constellation of organizations that seek to correct the distortions of the media and academia (CAMERA, Honest Reporting, Tom Gross, Campus Watch, etc.) do critical work: their scrupulous concern for accuracy, for references, for empirical evidence provides a valuable counterpoint to an irresponsible Mainstream Media. But on the one hand, they operate from within an older framework (objective reporting) that has limited purchase on the media itself which increasingly favors post-modern versions of advocacy journalism.
It is not enough to chronicle MSM errors and bias (and get corrections and apologies). For any real change to occur, the public needs to understand the larger framework in which these errors occur, the systemic problems at work in the larger cultural, historical, psychological and political dynamics that, right now, makes Western democracies so vulnerable. Only then can we can effectively address the underlying thinking, feelings, and assumptions that animate the current media assault on Israel. Second Draft seeks to deploy within a larger (civilizational) framework. As such we hope to at once leverage our own initial efforts on the important work already being done by those other Media watchdog organizations. Our primary purpose is to promote change in the underlying process.
We choose our examples not only because they are particularly egregious cases of misrepresentation, but because an in-depth analysis leads to a more paradigmatic shift in understanding, contributing to long-term shifts in attitude. This deep level of analysis, done effectively, can have a chance of catching and sustaining people’s attention, helping them understand, as they awaken, to the systemic dangers that menace a free culture. We do not think that “reason” alone will produce a significant shift. Only when people, motivated by concern, are offered fundamental clarity, and provided with a venue for change, will large numbers of people change their unexamined but deep-set assumptions.
Case in point: al Durah
The results of Second Draft’s work have already been groundbreaking. Through verifiable research, that is published on our websites, publications, open conferences and films we have already begun to see the positive effects of our work. The best example is our work on Al Durah and Pallywood.
For the past seven years, our founder Richard Landes has been one of the key players in the ongoing, international quest to clear the names of Israel, the IDF and the Jewish people of the blood libel associated with the alleged shooting of the twelve year old boy Mohammed al Durah at Netzarim crossing at the beginning of the “Second Intifada.” It is in great part due to Landes' scholarly research and public outreach via cyberspace that Pallywood has become a term of widespread use, and that the al Durah name has finally started to become a deserved symbol of Arab intransigence and media dishonesty instead of an Icon of hatred.
In the process we have pioneered the techniques and knowledge and analysis base of Second Draft. Building on this success, Second Draft plans to keep the pressure up on the al Durah affair even as we expand into as many other subjects of inquiry as we have the funding to sustain.
Ok, maybe it wasn't so quick...
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How will this organization distinguish itself from CAMERA, the David Project, or Honest Reporting?
I honestly don't know. I know they've been at work on this for a long while. Maybe one of them will stop by and comment.
Good question! Here is a quick answer. The current constellation of organizations that seek to correct the distortions of the media and academia (CAMERA, Honest Reporting, Tom Gross, Campus Watch, etc.) do critical work: their scrupulous concern for accuracy, for references, for empirical evidence provides a valuable counterpoint to an irresponsible Mainstream Media. But on the one hand, they operate from within an older framework (objective reporting) that has limited purchase on the media itself which increasingly favors post-modern versions of advocacy journalism.
It is not enough to chronicle MSM errors and bias (and get corrections and apologies). For any real change to occur, the public needs to understand the larger framework in which these errors occur, the systemic problems at work in the larger cultural, historical, psychological and political dynamics that, right now, makes Western democracies so vulnerable. Only then can we can effectively address the underlying thinking, feelings, and assumptions that animate the current media assault on Israel. Second Draft seeks to deploy within a larger (civilizational) framework. As such we hope to at once leverage our own initial efforts on the important work already being done by those other Media watchdog organizations. Our primary purpose is to promote change in the underlying process.
We choose our examples not only because they are particularly egregious cases of misrepresentation, but because an in-depth analysis leads to a more paradigmatic shift in understanding, contributing to long-term shifts in attitude. This deep level of analysis, done effectively, can have a chance of catching and sustaining people’s attention, helping them understand, as they awaken, to the systemic dangers that menace a free culture. We do not think that “reason” alone will produce a significant shift. Only when people, motivated by concern, are offered fundamental clarity, and provided with a venue for change, will large numbers of people change their unexamined but deep-set assumptions.
Case in point: al Durah
The results of Second Draft’s work have already been groundbreaking. Through verifiable research, that is published on our websites, publications, open conferences and films we have already begun to see the positive effects of our work. The best example is our work on Al Durah and Pallywood.
For the past seven years, our founder Richard Landes has been one of the key players in the ongoing, international quest to clear the names of Israel, the IDF and the Jewish people of the blood libel associated with the alleged shooting of the twelve year old boy Mohammed al Durah at Netzarim crossing at the beginning of the “Second Intifada.” It is in great part due to Landes' scholarly research and public outreach via cyberspace that Pallywood has become a term of widespread use, and that the al Durah name has finally started to become a deserved symbol of Arab intransigence and media dishonesty instead of an Icon of hatred.
In the process we have pioneered the techniques and knowledge and analysis base of Second Draft. Building on this success, Second Draft plans to keep the pressure up on the al Durah affair even as we expand into as many other subjects of inquiry as we have the funding to sustain.
Ok, maybe it wasn't so quick...