Forecast: Slightly Improved Conditions, But Still Cloudy
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As Charles has already reported, thanks to the public outcry, CNN has caved in and now Jerusalem, Israel exists on their site! However the other issues I raised have not been addressed. Gaza and the West Bank are still listed as separate countries, and the non-existent Arab villages are still listed as cities.
A number of commenters here and on LGF have raised the possibility that with regard to this last issue, CNN are just using a predefined list of weather stations. While I have not had the chance to confirm this with the Israeli meteorological folk, Israellycool reader Laura writes:
For as long as I can remember, when you clicked on the CNN drop-down menu for cities in Israel you got a short list of the major cities in Israel: Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel-Aviv, Beersheba, Tiberias, Eilat. Then about 6 weeks ago they added all the Arab names, but Jerusalem was still on the list. Then about 3-4 weeks ago they removed Jerusalem from the list. So I would say it’s a very deliberate change.
So as far as I am concerned, CNN has still got a long way to go - as well as a lot of explaining to do. Which means our work is not yet complete.
Update: Now Jerusalem is back on the list of cities (Thanks to Sabba Hillel for the heads-up).
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Reprehensible dhimmitude from CNN.
June 28th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I recall that something like this happened previously, around 2001. “Jerusalem” was listed on the weather map without stating the country to which it belonged. There was an outcry and a flood of e-mails/calls to CNN, demanding that the word “Israel” be placed alongside it, as every other city in the world was identified with the country to which it belonged. CNN put up a feeble defense about Jerusalem being disputed, but eventually CNN relented after the obvious was repeatedly pointed out to it: that while part of Jerusalem is disputed, another part was under Israeli sovereignty before 1967. No one plunged into the details of whether West Jerusalem really belongs to Israel under international law (every U.S. President, for example, has denied that Israel is the sovereign in West Jerusalem, even though Congress has urged them to; unfortunately, the Executive Branch has the last word on this). CNN finally changed the map six years ago. Now that this is, more or less, happening again, coupled with the fact that I have not heard of a politicized weather map elsewhere, I have to conclude that this NOT is an innocent error on CNN’s part.