News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Australian Jewish groups have criticized a government-sponsored media watchdog for suggesting the "Jewish lobby" pressured the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper to reject an article by longtime Middle East correspondent Ed O'Loughlin.

The article, meant to be a farewell from the region, ran in the Herald's sister publication, The Age (Melbourne), but was rejected without comment by SMH editor Alan Oakley. The article accused Israel of murdering Reuters photographer Fadel Shana and places the responsibility for Israel's ongoing conflict with local Arabs on Israel's shoulders.

Jewish media observers have accused O'Loughlin of biased reporting since he began working in the area in 2002. Tzvi Fleischer of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council told the Australian Jewish News O’Loughlin “is obviously a talented journalist who brilliantly distorts facts and substitutes opinions for news.”