In July 2017, the BBC replied to a valid complaint about Nabila Ramdani, a “French freelance journalist of Algerian descent who specialises in Anglo-French issues, Islamic affairs, and the Arab world” whose offensive and misleading anti-Israel remarks were allowed to pass unchallenged by the presenter during one of her many appearances on Dateline.
“We have spoken to the production team and presenter to remind them of the need to ensure that any contentious remarks are challenged and questioned, at whatever point they are made during the programme.”
The presenter in question was Jane Hill. The other day I spotted Nabila Ramdani on the screen again, but at the time wasn’t able to watch the programme.
Sure enough, it seems she was at it again. Moreover, the presenter was, once again, Jane Hill. Here is part of the offending rant:
“So essentially Donald Trump accuses the Palestinians of not being polite enough as their land is stolen, as they are routinely murdered in their thousands, imprisoned in their hundreds and undergo in all manners, all manners of human rights abuses. And there was of course no mention of the incredibly provocative decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem while completely ignoring the Palestinian right to East Jerusalem as their capital. And what I found particularly disdainful was the way Trump threatened to wash his hands of the entire Israel peace process, making out that he’d had quite enough of the boorish Palestinians, again signalling that they should somehow accept their fate and also be polite towards the billions of dollars poured into Israel to ruin their lives.”
(emphases added)
Jane Hill did not challenge any of these comments, but she did give a signal that she might have realised they were offensive, as she responded with: “And we will certainly talk about that on another day.”
On the other hand, Jane Hill might have suspected that the remarks were controversial without knowing whether they were true or not, and would have been unable to challenge them securely.
In which case, if you’re going to get someone as partisan as Nabila Ramdani on your programme, get someone who is capable of countering their lies.
That would certainly be a first. I don't believe I have ever heard the Israeli side of the argument in BBC interview - at least not without being immediately shut down by the the interviewer in that particular tone they reserve for Israeli politicians or spokespeople. They are not even interested in balance.
ReplyDeleteI watched the Mash report last night in which Nish Kumar on the subject of truth described Orla Guerin as,”a woman he would trust with his life”. I almost choked.