The Daily Telegraph's account of the latest terrorist attack in the US (which, thankfully, it seems, only resulted in the deaths of the terrorists involved) is carefully balanced in the way it describes the Muslim prophet Mohammad (though it doesn't stick to a single spelling of his names). The Telegraph's headline begins with "Mohammed", then the article moves through "the Prophet Mohammed", "the Prophet", "Muhammad", "the Prophet Muhammad", "Muhammad" and "Muhammad".
The BBC News website's account is, typically, much more 'pious' from start to finish. Their headline begins with "Prophet", then the article moves through "the Prophet Muhammad", "the Prophet", "the Prophet Muhammad", "the Prophet Muhammad" and "the Prophet Muhammad".
You can sense the BBC's disapproval of the AFDI and this event here. There also seems to be the implication that the AFDI may have 'provoked' this terrorist attack themselves through their "provocative" behaviour.
Update: BBC stealth edit alert!
The BBC has updated the article sometime within the last hour. The 'controversials' are still there but one has been moved higher up the article....
....however, the BBC has obviously had cold feet about publishing that Alistair Leithead quote.
"The BBC's Alastair Leithead says the event was controversial and provocative", has been removed from the article.
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Another difference between the Telegraph and the BBC accounts is that the the BBC piece makes use of a word the Telegraph doesn't use at all, and does so three times within a short space:
It's typical of a BBC reporter like Alastair Leithead to editorialise by the use of loaded words like "controversial" and "provocative". (The Telegraph's Josie Ensor clearly doesn't feel any such need to do so.)The BBC's Alastair Leithead says the event was controversial and provocative.It was organised by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), which has campaigned against the building of an Islamic centre near the World Trade Center site in New York.The AFDI is run by controversial blogger and activist Pamela Geller and is listed as an anti-Muslim group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group.Speaking before Sunday's event, Ms Geller told AP news agency that the aim of the contest was to make a stand for free speech.Her group has also caused controversy by buying advertising space on buses in US cities, criticising Islam.
You can sense the BBC's disapproval of the AFDI and this event here. There also seems to be the implication that the AFDI may have 'provoked' this terrorist attack themselves through their "provocative" behaviour.
Update: BBC stealth edit alert!
The BBC has updated the article sometime within the last hour. The 'controversials' are still there but one has been moved higher up the article....
....however, the BBC has obviously had cold feet about publishing that Alistair Leithead quote.
"The BBC's Alastair Leithead says the event was controversial and provocative", has been removed from the article.
