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Daniel "Danny" Seaman (born 1961) is an Israeli media professional and former civil servant, mainly active in the fields of foreign service and public diplomacy (hasbara).
Seaman was the bureau chief of Voice of Israel, a private Israeli English-language news and talk internet radio station that was created in 2014 and closed due to a lack of funding in 2015.
A veteran of the Israeli civil service, he retired in January 2014 after 31 years of duty. His last position was Deputy Director General for Information at the Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs. He formerly served as the director of the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO), part of the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem responsible for the foreign media contingent in Israel.
Biography
Seaman was born on a US Air Force base in Germany, the son of an American-born father and an Israeli-born mother. His family emigrated from the United States to Israel in 1971 and settled in the port city of Ashkelon.
He enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces serving in an elite paratroop unit in 1979 and is a veteran of the 1982 Lebanon War.
Between 1983 and 1989 he was employed by the Israeli consulate in New York. While there he completed a BA in political science, with honors, at the City University of New York's Hunter College.
Seaman served as an adviser and spokesperson to the governments of six prime ministers: Yitzhak Shamir, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak.
Seaman was directly responsible for coordinating the press coverage of several heads of states visits to Israel including US President Bill Clinton, British prime minister Tony Blair, Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien, Australian prime minister John Howard, Jordan's King Hussein and Chinese president Jiang Zemin. He was a member of the Israeli press delegation to the Aqaba peace talks (see Road map for peace, Red Sea Summit in Aqaba, Jordan, June 4, 2003). Seaman received the Israel Outstanding Civil Service Award in 2000 for coordinating the international press coverage of Pope John Paul II's visit to the Holy Land in March 2000.
Seaman was appointed as acting director of the Government Press Office (GPO) in December 2000 and worked with thousands of foreign journalists who covered news events in Israel and the Palestinian territories until 2010. He had worked for the GPO for several years and was the first civil servant promoted to directorship of the GPO after a period of 30 years. During his tenure as GPO director he implemented several measures that improved working conditions for foreign journalists in Israel.
He took a leave of absence from his post in November 2008 and announced his candidacy in the Likud party primaries for the 18th Knesset, but withdrew his candidacy.
Seaman lectures on Israeli and Middle-Eastern affairs and appeared on dozens of international news media outlets.
Controversies
Seaman is said to have observed the a dramatic intensification of public diplomacy in coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, what interviewers have called "cognitive warfare" waged in a "battlefront of perceptions", in which Israel must handle a "global media battle". In this, he sees the media as "agenda-driven" concerning the Palestinian narrative and Palestinian society highly mobilized, and these two elements cause Israel's image to suffer in international reportage. The problem is, he argues, that the Arab world fails to maintain journalistic standards accepted in the West, and in waging their media war insult the free press tradition which, he affirms, Israel upholds.
As the director of the GPO, Seaman came under criticism by a range of Israeli and international media outlets and journalists for not issuing them with Israeli press cards, which are very useful in Israel, and absolutely crucial for reaching many areas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Additionally, he was accused of becoming aggressive, abusive and using foul language and even physical force against journalists he considered hostile and unfair towards Israel. Such journalists included Israeli mainstream media employees such as Atta Awisat, a veteran staff photographer at Yedioth Ahronoth, then the largest newspaper in Israel, allegedly due to clearance issues with the security agencies.
Seaman did not deny using this type of policy towards blatantly anti-Israeli media outlets:
"I can make journalists’ lives more difficult. There are certain guidelines that allow me to do that. Such as with the case of Aftonbladet, and their despicable anti-Semitic report on the IDF abducting Palestinians and using their body organs. We didn’t prevent Aftonbladet from working here. We just took our time. To this day, the correspondents from Aftonbladet do not get a press card immediately. We can take up to 90 days and we can take longer..."
Another journalist who became the target of Seaman's contempt was Jörg Bremer, a 15-year veteran of the press corps in Jerusalem, who worked as the correspondent of the right-liberal German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. In his case, he was denied not the renewal of his press card, but the extension of his residence visa. For calling this measure a political way of keeping unwanted journalist at bay and for asking for the German government's support, Bremer was described by Seaman in a newspaper interview as "an idiot," "a piece of shit" and "a miserable liar." Bremer said in response that "Seaman wants journalists to lick his feet. He gets enjoyment from the situation, and uses his power instead of helping. It is harmful to Israel."
On 11 March 2007, Haaretz reported that the Israeli Civil Service Commission was investigating foreign journalists' accusations that Government Press Office director Daniel Seaman has treated them improperly and enforced the procedures for receiving a press pass in an inequitable manner.
In August 2013, Haaretz accused him of having "gained a reputation for his confrontations with foreign correspondents and for the complaints they lodged against him" and called him "an abusive racist." The article, included selected quotes from Seaman’s personal Facebook page. Seaman was admonished by the government, which distanced itself from his views and then suspended him from his position as Director of Interactive Media because of offensive, racist comments.
Media and book coverage
- Seaman is mentioned extensively in Stephanie Gutmann's book The Other War—Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy(October 2005). Chapter 10, "His Own Private Jihad," is specifically about his efforts to curb Palestinian influence on the media coverage.
- "Danny Seaman’s farewell voyage". Upon conclusion of his term as GPO director he gave an extensive interview to the editor of The Jerusalem Post, which was published on November 5, 2011.
- "Netanyahu’s social media director suspended," on Seaman's suspension, blogging faux-pas and future plans. The Jerusalem Post, August 16, 2013. .
Articles by Daniel Seaman
- "Palestinian industry of lies: Media manipulation has become strategic Arab weapon against Israel" - Ynetnews, May 29, 2008 .
- "Opposing the Digital Pogrom" - Responding to the foreign media's claim they are offended by their negative portrayal in a Ministry for Public Diplomacy’s campaign. The Jerusalem Post, March 4, 2010
References
- Amouyal, Noa; Frantzman, Seth J. (August 25, 2015). "Voice of Israel English-language radio closes after first year". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- Ron Schleifer, Jessica Snapper, Advocating Propaganda – Viewpoints from Israel: Social Media, Public Diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, Military Psychology, and Religious Persuasion Perspectives, Sussex Academic Press, 2015 PP.57-63
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnCpCrHKyyc
- Izikovich, Gili (26 July 2010). "Ten years after 'temporary' appointment, controversial Government Press Office head may be forced out of office: Daniel Seaman, who has come under fire repeatedly for allegedly refusing to grant or renew press credentials for political or personal reasons, may soon be leaving his post". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- ^ Tarnopolsky, Noga (21 February 2013). "Bullying Israeli Government Flack Sparks Diplomatic Row—Among Other Concerns". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- http://b.walla.co.il/item/1411702
- ^ David Horovitz (5 November 2011). "Danny Seaman's farewell voyage". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- Ilan, Shahar (15 October 2006). "Foreign reporter challenges GPO over visa policy". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- Carmel, Asaf (12 March 2007). "Civil Service investigating complaints against GPO head: Foreign journalist accuse Government Press Office head of treating them improperly". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
- Ravid, Barak (13 August 2013). "Is an abusive racist the best Israeli PR can produce?". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 January 2015.