Leftists are smarter, reporter says

Even if the Israeli left were to boast of a higher concentration of brilliant people, as one controversial reporter claims, that apparently does not make them any more tactful.

Channel 2 News has launched a disciplinary inquiry into statements made by the station’s culture reporter Ilan Lukatch last week to the effect that the reason for the disproportionate number of journalists who identify with Israel’s political left was a function of their superior intelligence.

Asked on his Facebook page “How many people at Channel 2 affiliate with the political right?” Lukatch replied with the following affirmation: “I will not give you a list of names, for obvious reasons, but there are right-wingers.

“Of course there are more on the left, but that’s because there’s correlation between one’s IQ and political leaning, and senior figures in the media are generally above average.”

It wasn’t Lukatch’s first controversial statement. In July 2012 he posted to Facebook an image of the Mona Lisa in a veil with the comment “Teach your children to despise those who wear black. Explain to them that we are speaking of the clinically retarded with mental disabilities.”

The post was seen as a tasteless attack against Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community.