More Censorship: Ultra-Orthodox Publication Censors Critical Voices From Washington Post Story On…Ultra-Orthodox Censorship

A story on the continued controversy caused by haredi publications that used computer imaging to remove Hillary Clinton and another woman from the now iconic White House Situation Room Osama Bin Laden photograph is censored by a haredi publication that removed – without any notice – entire quotes and names of sources seen as critical of ultra-Orthodoxy.

 

More Censorship: Ultra-Orthodox Publication Censors Critical Voices From Washington Post Story On…Ultra-Orthodox Censorship
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Matzav.com is an ultra-Orthodox publication said to be closely linked to Yated Ne'eman publisher and editor Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz.

While Matzav.com does not make its masthead public, it's editor is reportedly Yitzy Hisiger, the nephew and close associate of Rabbi Lipschutz.

Lipschutz is best known outside of ultra-Orthodoxy for his role as the chief fundraiser and advocate for Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin, the former VP of Agriprocessors, once the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the world. Rubashkin is now serving a 27 year sentence in federal prison for bank fraud and related crimes.

Lipschutz uses Yated Ne'eman to lobby for Rubashkin.

Matzav.com fills that role online.

Today, Matzav.com published a Washington Post piece on the Hillary Clinton photoshop scandal. But is this really the piece published by the Washington Post?

Media Now On To Dee Voch for Dropping Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason
Wednesday May 11, 2011 5:39 AM

Melissa Bell reports in the Washington Post:

Dee Voch, a weekly Brooklyn  magazine, has dropped Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason from its pages, much as the Der Tzitung newspaper did. The magazine does leave somewhat blurry lines to suggest the photo was altered.

In a statement, Der Tzitung said, “Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women.”

Both magazines are chassidish. Yossi Gestetner, a PR consultant within the Orthodox Jewish community, wrote in an e-mail that the removal of Clinton has much less to do with women in power than it does in keeping with the sense of full-scale modesty within the community.

Albert Friedman, editor of Der Tzitung, said that according to the editorial practice of most chassidishe publications, it is a known practice to never run images of women. Usually, the photographs are cropped to only show men. “It’s clearly stated in our editorial,” he said via phone. Most other such newspapers published only half the photograph, cropping Clinton and Tomason from the image. His photo editor was “carried away with the fog of victory,” and thought to experiment by photoshopping the picture.

“In Israel, ultra-orthodox or charedi papers routinely refuse to show women,” Michelle Goldberg writes at the Daily Beast. “A 2008 Jerusalem Post story quoted someone from the community explaining, ‘Photoshop works overtime in a charedi newspaper.’”

Friedman said the story mentioned Secretary of State Clinton in the write up, though the article appeared on a separate page from the photograph.

He said it would be a one-time occurrence at the paper. They would stick to cropping photographs, not photoshopping them.

{Washington Post/Matzav.com}

Is this the Washington Post's article unedited and posted in its entirety?

No.

Without telling its readers, Matzav.com has censored details and quotes that appear to be damaging to the ultra-Orthodox community.

What follows is the Washington Post story unedited and in its entirety, minus the pictures and video:

Second Hasidic newspaper drops Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason
By Melissa Bell

Shmarya Rosenberg, the blogger at Failed Messiah who first wrote about the doctored Situation Room photograph, has uncovered a second altered photograph in a Jewish magazine.

De Voce, a weekly Brooklyn Hasidic magazine, has dropped Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason from its pages, much as the Der Tzitung newspaper did. The magazine does leave somewhat blurry lines to suggest the photo was altered, as if a ghost Clinton still lingers, but the females are nevertheless scrubbed from the room:


The Situation Room photograph in De Voce. (Failed Messiah)
Photograph in Der Tzitung. (Failed Messiah)


The original Situation Room photograph. (Pete Souza/The White House)

In a statement, Der Tzitung said, “Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women.” Both magazines are Hasidic, an ultra-orthodox form of Judaism. Yossi Gestetner, a PR consultant within the Orthodox Jewish community, wrote in an e-mail that the removal of Clinton has much less to do with women in power than it does in keeping with the sense of full-scale modesty within the community.

However, many other people saw the incident as an example of the religion’s supression of women. “Extreme discomfort with the presence of women or even images of women is common to virtually all totalitarian religious communities, regardless of the tradition involved,” Brad Hirschfield, a Jewish blogger for The Post, writes.

Others took issue with the affront to journalistic standards. One reader on my previous post about the photo manipulation cited a section the Code of Ethics according to the Society of Professional Journalists. It reads: “Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.”

Albert Friedman, editor of Der Tzitung, said that according to the editorial practice of most Hasidic publications, it is a known practice to never run images of women. Usually, the photographs are cropped to only show men. “It’s clearly stated in our editorial,” he said via phone. Most other Hasidic newspapers published only half the photograph, cropping Clinton and Tomason from the image. His photo editor was “carried away with the fog of victory,” and thought to experiment by photoshopping the picture.

“In Israel, ultra-orthodox or haredi papers routinely refuse to show women,” Michelle Goldberg writes at the Daily Beast. “A 2008 Jerusalem Post story quoted someone from the community explaining, ‘Photoshop works overtime in a haredi newspaper.’”

Friedman said the story mentioned Secretary of State Clinton in the write up, though the article appeared on a separate page from the photograph.

He said it would be a one-time occurrence at the paper. They would stick to cropping photographs, not photoshopping them. Women will still remain off the pages of the paper. “It’s nothing negative connotation to the women. My wife runs my paper. Without women where would be?”

Stephen Colbert spoke about the paper’s controversy on his Monday night show: [Colbert video]

Compare the two versions of the story.

You'll see Matzav.com censored all mention of this blog, of its publisher, of non-ultra-Orthodox rabbi Brad Hirschfield, and of the Code of Ethics according to the Society of Professional Journalists.

If not for its clumsy usage of the word "chasidish" in its censored version, readers of Matzav.com would have no way to know the article has been heavily censored.

Without indicating that it had altered the text of the original article, Matzav.com cut out quotes, facts and mention of people who contradict its editorial views – a form of censorship and a distortion of history no different than photoshopping the Secretary of State out of an iconic photograph because she is a woman.

Matzav.com's censored version of the Washington Post story as a PDF file:

Download Media Now On To Dee Voch for Dropping Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason » Matzav.com - The Online Voice of Torah Jewry

The Washington Post's article, uncensored, as it appears on the Washington Post website as a PDF file:

Download Second Hasidic newspaper drops Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason - BlogPost - The Washington Post

Comments

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

Just imagine the poor tortured souls who had to do the photoshopping. S
Focusing for all that time on those women! At least their suffering was al kiddush hashem

[Critical minyan]

It's not censorship, it's for modesty reasons. Ultra orthodox women have been known to climax just from hearing the words "shmarya Rosenberg". They should have called you Scott to avoid this problem. I'm sure an apology is forthcoming.

[maztav]

now matzav will be in the media for Photoshopping a Washingtonpost story...

[seymour]

what they did is illegal.

maybe the Washington Post should sue them and expose some people in the frum people as deceiving their own people.

[WoolSilkCotton]

I'd rather be mentioned in The Washington Post than matzav.

Frumma mental illness- the gift that keeps on giving!

[seymour]

I commented on this on vin sorry Shmarya
did not give credit to you, since

1 I think the chances of it actually being posted them would be minimal
2. the readers would be so focused on you that the point would be lost.

[corn popper]

If memory serves correct, the first time I saw this story posted on matzav FM was quoted. Later in the day it was removed.

[Althelion]

The photo is censored. The article about the censored photo is censored. The article about the censored article is censored.

It seems as if the frumma thought police (the rabbonim) are losing their grasp on controlling the knowledge of reality.

Chas v'shalom!!! The internet is a greater foe than the Egyptians. A greater foe than the Greeks. A greater foe than the Romans.
A greater foe than a shapely shiksa.

[WoolSilkCotton]

The internet, texting, and twitter helped bring down Mideastern dictatorships (although who knows whether the replacements will be any better), and they will bring down the frumma dictators.

Once the younger crowd gets a taste of freedom to think, freedom to have new ideas, the freedom to discover the lies of their leaders, the walls of the ghetto will fall.

[A. Nuran]

Truth is just too dangerous for the sheep. They have to be protected from it in a comforting blanket of lies and ignorance.

[OMG]

WSC,
It seems that the Charedi news purveyors are caught in their own spider web, with no way getting out of it.

[Ferdy Ferd]

Hisiger is a slimy liar.

[WHO CARES]

who cares - i mean really, who cares. WHO CARES! people that have no lives - that's whom

[HailtotheRedskins]

did matzav print the article about albert Haynsworth in its entirety?

[Althelion]

Eventually the gedolim will scream, "Anti-Semites are attacking us! Fasten your gartels buchrim, we're in for a long hard battle."

[Tikvah]

The haredim have lost the forest for one leaf on one tree. The values of Yiddishkeit that I learned were integrity, honesty, tikkun olam, and respect. They are making a mockery of these values with their gezeirot upon gezeirot. Eventually, they lie in order to keep their fences standing.

[seymour]

shockingly,

vin did not post my comment about this

[MPidiot]

I want the olam to know that the heiliqe
Matzav.com who does not post pictures of wone yesterday publised a picture of one or two girls who is/are half-naked.

http://matzav.com/chinese-girls-born-in-single-body-with-2-heads

[corn popper]

MPidiot,
Clearly a most suitable name.

[MPidiot]

Corn Pepper

Shmarya gave it to me. Glad you agree with him

[Malach Hamovies]

Someone in who is in on the inside in Artscroll once told me that they Photo Shop all the time. In the latest bio of Reb Aaron Kotler they cropped out the picture of Rabbi Yosef Ber Soloveitchik. The event was the Inaugral dinner of Chinuch Atzmai in 1956.

Although Rabbi Soloveitchik left Agudah years earlier he acquiesced to Rabbi's Kotler's request to be at the dinner.

Rabbi Kotler knew that Rabbi Solveitchik
had major money connections in the modern orthodox and the religious zionist communities here in america.

Chinuch Atzmai would not have gotton of the ground without Rabbi Solveitchiks active participation.

How does Aguda/Artscroll show their appreciation ?? By cropping out his picture and by basically cutting him out of their history.

[steve]

What do you expect from Matzav/Al Jazeera and Mao Zedong. These "journalists" couldn't care less about honesty and truth. It's all about $$$ and toeing the party line.