tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post1361448008778310061..comments2024-01-01T17:21:52.555+00:00Comments on Is the BBC biased?: The BBC’s entrenched bias against Israel.Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-35236319738867499652017-06-18T11:27:43.513+01:002017-06-18T11:27:43.513+01:00Sue, what you say about them probably justifying t...Sue, what you say about them probably justifying their bias as "virtuous in intent and ultimately righteous in principle" reminds me that The Times of 25 July 1994 carried an article by the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson entitled "When reporters act on their consciences". Unfortunately, I don't have a copy in front of me now, but from memory the catalyst for the article was a recent broadcast in which George Alagiah abandoned objectivity to advocate for a particular cause, so outraged was he at what he was seeing around him. (Can't recall the exact location he was reporting from.)<br />Bear that in mind if you ever have the opportunity to consult back copies of The Times! Simpson evidently understood and approved of Alagiah's stance, and foreshadowed more instances of the kind. A pioneer of this "journalist as activist" approach is a frightfully biased leftist on the ABC, Australia's answer to the BBC, its Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill, who before her controversial appointment made no secret of the fact that she considers herself an activist as well as a journalist and has ever after been as good as her word, a real anti-Israel reporter. Daphne Ansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12297188759548931101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-13105889622790532932017-06-17T14:54:33.128+01:002017-06-17T14:54:33.128+01:00And many thanks for letting us use your valuable m...And many thanks for letting us use your valuable material.<br /><br />Full and serious studies might not make very much difference to the BBC, their thinking is entrenched. Compulsory history lessons might help. <br />The BBC probably accepts that it occasionally appears biased in the eyes of pro-Israel viewers and listeners, but because most BBC staff see Israel negatively, they might argue that any detectable bias in the reporting is virtuous in intent and ultimately righteous in principle. <br /><br />Wiki has a bulky section on the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” under “Criticism of the BBC” with quotes from many sources including activists and professional Israel-bashers, for example Tim Llewellyn. As usual credibility is dished out indiscriminately to anyone and everyone. suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02693686958796849316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-82402300675614961702017-06-17T10:22:17.778+01:002017-06-17T10:22:17.778+01:00Thanks for posting this, Sue. I hope that one day ...Thanks for posting this, Sue. I hope that one day somebody can use it as the skeleton on which to base a full study of the Beeb's outrageous propaganda against Israel.Daphne Ansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12297188759548931101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-23805435587085657492017-06-16T17:51:21.666+01:002017-06-16T17:51:21.666+01:00I recall Kyle. A v. slippery eel indeed.
Wouldn...I recall Kyle. A v. slippery eel indeed. <br /><br />Wouldn't be so bad if people like Bowen came out and said "Can't stand those effing Israelis, get right up my nose...much prefer yer honest Ay-rab". But they never do. Instead they just come out with a load of distortion, circumlocution, denial, false comparison, sleight of hand and misrepresentation all coated in mood music (literally in Bowen's case, with "sinister synth" stuff bubbling away when he gets on to the Israelis, whereas the sound effect for the Palestinians is happy children playing carefree in the sunshine. <br /><br />There are so many dot-dot-dots with Bowen. One small example...he explains the Palestinians once had hopes of turning the Gazan coast into a Mediterranean beach playground. He offers no evidence for that assertion. Hmmm...well Hamas never dreamt of a bikini paradise for sure. I doubt many in the PLO did either. It was one of those things put around at the time of the Dayton accords I seem to recall. But Bowen lets it hang there like a dead puppy on a string...Palestinian hopes of a Western style tourist economy cruelly dashed...by whom? Well of course, though he won't say it, we all know we are meant to think - the Israelis. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-67082170097936398822017-06-16T17:46:23.979+01:002017-06-16T17:46:23.979+01:00Thank you for posting those links. As shocking as ...Thank you for posting those links. As shocking as they are, they do provide a great deal of background to what has often seemed inexplicable to me. What I do find so sad is that to a degree all the characters in this sorry tale have succeeded. Despite minimal support in the eyes of the public at the time, their obnoxious views are now mainstream. Terryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05818860172734529356noreply@blogger.com