CNN says it erred in coverage of Israel-Palestinian conflict

JERUSALEM -- CNN erred in giving more programming time to the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber than to his Israeli victims and tried to rectify the mistake, the network's top news executive said Sunday during a damage-control visit to Israel.

CNN's coverage of recent suicide bombings has provoked anger in Israel and led a local cable company to start carrying CNN's chief U.S. competitor, Fox News Channel. Fox said it expects others to follow suit. Recent comments from CNN founder Ted Turner describing both Israel and the Palestinians as terrorists have fueled Israeli anger.

Interviewed on Israel Television, Eason Jordan, CNN's president of newsgathering, said his company strives for fairness.

"On occasion we make mistakes but that's not because there's any bias," he said. "CNN is not pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli.

"We're fair, we're responsible in our reporting, we try to be as accurate as we possibly can be."

Told that a recent CNN interview with the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber received more prominence than one with a relative of his victims, 1-year-old Sinai Keinan and her grandmother, Jordan said: "That was a mistake, it should never have happened and I think we subsequently rectified that problem by airing extensively the interview with the Keinan family."

CNN is airing a series of heavily promoted half-hour specials on Israeli victims of Palestinian terror attacks and Jordan says he has issued a directive ordering staff to "go to extremes" to avoid any impression the company sees moral equivalence between terror victims and their attackers.

'We now have a new system in place where we just refuse to air any videotape or statements of suicide bombers or their families unless there's an extraordinarily compelling situation," he said. "Secondly, we want to focus more on the victims of terror. We have done that. I don't think we've done that enough."

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said he was concerned Israeli government pressure could compromise the objectivity of CNN and other international media.

"I hope that journalism will not turn into shaping and packaging how they the Israelis think the media should be," he said. "What is really striking is that CNN is airing one week on the Israeli victims and they don't show the courtesy of having at least one hour on Palestinian victims."