INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY
Testimonials
September 2024

 

Feedback from IPA’s featured experts, as well as the journalists and producers we serve, is one way we chart our progress. Following are recent comments from a few IPA experts and journalists.

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate:
     “The Institute for Public Accuracy has long been a valued resource connecting activists and activism with journalists. This past year, they led the effort for a country to invoke the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice beginning in October of 2023. They continued with this work after South Africa filed its case against Israel in late December and into 2024 as the historic proceedings continued. Their work resulted in media interviews for legal scholars as well as activists like myself who were advocating for countries to take this step. More importantly, their work helped set the stage for South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice, using that forum to highlight some of the most critical issues onto the world stage. This helps to use the law and dialogue to break out of the compulsion for more and more violence. We greatly need groups like IPA to have the resources they need to continue their critical work. What is most needed is for people to make peace and that often entails urging governments to do all they can to take real steps in that direction, to help manifest our common humanity. The Institute for Public Accuracy has skillfully used its capacities to educate the public about the horrors of U.S. and Israeli policy when it mattered most.”

Christopher Gunness, former spokesperson for UNRWA:
     “Since the Institute for Public Accuracy started promoting UNRWA and the messages of the UN across a wide spectrum of the media, I have been invited to appear on outlets which I’d never have had access to. This has enabled my messages to reach new audiences, and, I hope, influence a broader range of the public discourse.”

Kevin Gosztola, editor of The Dissenter.org and author of Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange:
     “In my 15 years of work as a journalist, the Institute for Public Accuracy has regularly shared my work with press releases sent to radio and news programs. Those shows have given me a platform to share my independent reporting on whistleblowing and press freedom with a wider audience. Without IPA, I am certain that there would be numerous professionals like myself who would go unnoticed and ignored by the media ecosystem. IPA’s outreach is crucial to amplifying coverage of important justice and human rights issues.”

Arun Gupta, independent reporter:
     “In no area of policy-making is the US media environment more biased than In its coverage of national security. As a scholar, writer, and activist working on counter-terrorism policy and Islamophobia, I am continuously confronted by a media system that accepts without question the flawed dominant narratives voiced by officials of national security agencies, their backers in the DC think-tank world, and far-Right propagandists. Yet those dominant narratives have led to policies that discriminate against Muslims domestically and perpetuate violence in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The work of the Institute of Public Accuracy is essential in enabling a broader range of opinions to be expressed. Only by enriching public discussion in this way with more marginal voices can the policy-making process be reformed and its outcomes made less harmful.”

Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam:
     “IPA is one of the few, if only, media NGOs which promotes progressive foreign policy stories to the wider media. Its emphasis on global peace, social justice, and equity issues is critical to articulating a foreign policy that puts people before power. U.S. global relations historically have exploited our status as a superpower; our ability to project economic and military might in pursuit of our national interests; our ability to force our views on enemies and allies. Too often the U.S. has done so through threats and war, rather than cooperation and pragmatism. IPA highlights voices like Tikun Olam offering a progressive alternative to the damaging consensus in U.S. foreign policy. It helps disseminate these views to a broader public. As such, it is an invaluable resource.”

James Counts Early, former Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service at the Smithsonian Institution, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Policy Studies:
     “In the frenetic world of corporate partisan slanted media diffusion and unending rotating broadcasts personality pundits repeating glib story lines about complex life-defining matters, the Institute for Public Accuracy is a timely, refreshing information and analysis resource that provides the journalists, and the public, with accessible historical and contemporary context and straightforward inquiry and detailed examination of urgent subject matter, events, and policies to reflect upon and to make informed decisions.”

Dennis Bernstein, investigative reporter and executive producer of “Flashpoints,” broadcast from KPFA and syndicated on Pacifica Radio:
     “The Institute for Public Accuracy has been an invaluable resource for Flashpoints over many years. Nearly every day, IPA puts out timely news releases that those of us in the media looking for independent analysis look to as a very real public service. They regularly take on the toughest subjects. And so often thread the needle of getting content out that uses news hooks to raise awareness of systemic problems.”

James Bradley, author of The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War and Flags of Our Fathers:
     “The work that the Institute for Public Accuracy does is invaluable. Quick reflexed, high integrity, deeply sourced, and well respected around the globe. Such work, getting timely information out, debunking disinformation in real time to avert catastrophic conflict is so gravely needed.”

Aurn Kundnani, author of What is Antiracism? (2023) and The Muslims are Coming! (2014). He recently wrote the piece “As College Campuses Erupt in Protest, Some See a Political Transformation,” which states: “The protest movement against support for Israel now shaking institutions across the country is revealing daily the serious contradictions in U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.”:
     “As a scholar and writer working on Islamophobia in the U.S., I am continuously confronted by a media system that tends to favor a dominant pro-Israeli narrative in relation to Middle East policy. Over the last year, not only has there been a lack of diverse viewpoints represented, there has also been a growing impetus to aggressively censor alternative perspectives. Journalists who reject the dominant pro-Israeli bias have lost their jobs, students who have campaigned against Israel have been disciplined and blacklisted, and professors offering expert opinions not aligned with Israel’s narrative have been suspended or fired. These suppressions of free speech are reminiscent of McCarthyism. The work of the Institute of Public Accuracy is essential in enabling a broader range of opinions to be expressed. Only by enriching public discussion in this way with more marginal voices can the policy-making process be reformed and its outcomes made less harmful.”

Wendy Via, president and co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE):
     “IPA is a great resource for those who want to get a variety of news in a fact-based format. At GPAHE, we’re especially appreciative of IPA’s commitment to also sharing the news with local and community outlets, many of which wouldn’t otherwise have access. Supporting journalism is one of the most important things we can do to protect our democracy, and IPA is an outstanding contributor.”