Dear Colleagues,
Below is a letter i received from Mr. Flynn concerning the
GIC resources. He is responding to my letter and one from a
colleague at the Birch Wathan Lenox school, Rhonda Rigrodsky. Marion
----- Original Message -----
Dear Marion,
Please see my note below to your colleague Rhonda Rigrodsky at the
Birch Walthen Lenox School in Manhattan. I wanted to make sure you
knew that we will be adding "Commentary" to the Global Issues in
Context product by Monday of next week and that we have expanded our
target publications list to include a dozen or more Israeli
newspapers. We have also contacted the Israeli foreign ministry to
see if we can acquire some government news broadcasts.
Regards,
Jay
Dear Ms. Rigrodsky,
Thank you for sending your email to Craig along to me. We are
grateful for your feedback.
You are right to point out the lack of major Israeli newspapers in
Gale's new Global Issues in Context product. We are actively working
to address this. Specifically we are:
1. Currently providing access to one Israeli publication (Globes) in
the product today.
2. Engaged in active discussions with several major Israeli
newspapers about securing rights to their content for use in the product.
3. Adding the journal "Commentary" to the product on Monday, January
12th. (I recognize that Commentary is a US publication, but believe
that its inclusion to be both important and germane to this
conversation.) 4. Corresponding with representatives of the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the acquisition of rights for
English-language video (broadcast news) and audio (podcast) content.
Please understand that we can only provide access to information
sources for which we have appropriate permissions and rights. It
remains our goal to continually increase the breadth, depth and frame
of reference of the content we provide in our online products. Global
Issues in Context and Custom Newspapers are no exception in this regard.
As to the use of the word "militants" to describe members of Hamas:
It is true that the US has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization, as
it has the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Kahane Chai and 25 other
groups. (http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2801.htm) In the
Overview section of our Global Issues in Context portal "Hamas: Role
and Influence" we describe that group's militarist actions and
terrorist label:
"Hamas is a militant Islamist organization that is opposed to the
existence of Israel and its dominance over the Occupied Territories
(also known as the Palestinian Territories)....Hamas also wages war
with Israeli armed forces and rival militant groups. It is also
accused by many international governments and observers of committing
or sponsoring acts of terrorism, most notably suicide bombings and
firing rockets indiscriminately at southern Israel...Hamas, the
largest Palestinian militant group, has officially committed itself
to Israel's destruction and calls for the establishment of an Islamic
state covering all of Palestine....Hamas announced the destruction of
Israel as its goal in 1989 and conducted its first suicide bombing in
Israel in 1993. Since 2002, Hamas has used crude short-range rockets
fired from Gaza to terrorize southern Israel...With the cease-fire
set to expire on 19 December 2008, Israel announced on 13 December
that it wished to extend the cease-fire. On 20 December, Hamas
announced thaat it would not agree to a cease-fire extension, stating
that Israel had not fulfilled its terms under the cease-fire,
including lifting the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Hamas increased
rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli targets, culminating in 87
rocket and mortar attacks on 24 December. "
Gale also writes customized introductions to several thousand
periodical articles in the Global Issues in Context service. I am
quoting from Gale's introduction to a 2006 article in the Manila
Bulletin below.
"Hamas and closely linked organizations have carried out many
attacks, including suicide bombings, against Israeli military and
civilian targets. The United States, Japan, European Union, and other
countries consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization or a sponsor
of terrorist activities."
You mention the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Gale recognizes that
the Zionism article in that publication lacks perspective, authority
and credibility, and has apologized to those who believe we have
failed in our obligation to provide comprehensive and respectful
coverage of issues like these. You have my assurance that the steps
we are taking in response to the concerns of the American Jewish
Committee, the Zionist Organization of America and the Association of
Jewish Libraries are being taken in good faith and with deliberate speed.
Best regards,
Jay Flynn
Vice President and Publisher, Social Sciences Gale | Cengage Learning
27500 Drake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48331
[email protected] | www.gale.cengage.com
From: Flynn, Jay (Gale)
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:52 AM
To: 'Marion Stein'; Abruzzi, Ray (Gale)
Cc: Bass, Jason (Gale); Cusack , Leigh Ann (Gale); Gosling, Harlyn (Gale)
Subject: RE: Fwd(2): Lack of resources in GIC from Israel itself
Dear Ms. Stein,
We are actively pursing online rights for several Israeli
publications, as we share your view that this is a considerable
omission in our online products. Presently, we have asked our
licensing team to contact the following papers:
Jerusalem Post
Haaretz
Arutz Sheva
If you have any suggestions as to other publications you would like
us to include, please let us know. I have copied the product manager
for Global Issues in Context, Leigh Ann Cusack, our Associate
Publisher for periodicals and General Reference, Jason Bass, and
Harlan Gosling, who heads our licensing team. We will keep you
posted as to our progress, and look forward to hearing further
suggestions from you.
Regards,
Jay Flynn
Jay Flynn
Vice President and Publisher, Social Sciences
Gale | Cengage Learning
27500 Drake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48331
(0) 248.699.8207 | (e) [email protected] | www.gale.cengage.com
From: Marion Stein [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:26 AM
To: Abruzzi, Ray (Gale); Flynn, Jay (Gale)
Subject: Fwd(2): Lack of resources in GIC from Israel itself
Mr. Abruzzi and Mr. Flynn,
I was told by the operator to contact Carol Nagel in regard to the
GIC product. Now I get an email saying that she is on medical
leave. She suggests that I contact you. Please get back to me on this matter.
Thank you,
Marion Stein
----- Original Message -----
Ms. Nagel,
Yesterday I participated in a webinar with Stacey
Knibloe. I was very enthusiastic about this new program which we
have already ordered. But sadly on in depth investigation in
preparation for a presentation to our faculty, my colleague and I
discovered that there are no newspapers or periodicals in the
resource list from Israel.
This is unconscionable given the world situation. I would
have expected much more balanced coverage from a product that
purports to be unbiased and shows all sides of an issue. What is
your explanation for not including Israeli newspapers and periodicals
in your list of resources? As you know, there are several English
language and other western language newspapers from Israel.
Respectfully submitted,
Marion M. Stein
Marion M. Stein, Librarian
The Abraham Joshua Heschel High School
20 West End Avenue
New York, NY 10023
[email protected]
(212) 246-7717 Ext 11639
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
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