On the Sky website:
On the BBC News website:
Sky makes Mr. Corbyn's 'apology' sound less fulsome than the BBC does.
When you click into the respective reports you quickly find another interesting difference - their respective uses of qualifiers.
While Sky uses "apparent"...
...the BBC uses "allegedly":
So Sky says "an anti-Semitic mural" and the BBC says "an allegedly anti-Semitic mural".
Hmm.
One comment that needs to be made I think...
ReplyDeleteThere is I am sure an assumption within BBC cirxles that "anti-semitism" is a "right wing" phenomenon exclusively.
The reality is that modern anti-semitism really began with the socialist movement. From the start of socialism there was an anti-Jewish strand, building on the traditional identification of Jews with usury and in the 19th century with cruel capitalism. Both Marx and Engels indulged in anti-semitic trope comments (despite his own antecedents in Marx's case). Other socialist thinkers were even more explicit in scapegoating Jews.
So, we shouldn't be surprised that anti-semitic ideas are to be found in left-wing movements.
Of course this socialist strand in anti-semitism got blended with social Darwinism and more traditional forms of anti-semitism (e.g. as found in Lutheranism and Catholicism) to then emerge as far right race-based anti-semitism. But the connection was there (e.g. Strasser - Hitler's rival in the NS movement).
Of course now we see, as a result of mass immigration to Western Europe and the USA that these socialist and far right forms of anti-semitism have also be harnessed to Islamic anti-Jewish ideology (it's more than sentiment - it is a developed ideology).
And that about where we are now...
Anti-Zionism and anti-Israeli/American sentiment provides perfect cover for all these forms of anti-semitism.
So that's what the politicians mean by 'shared values'.
ReplyDeleteBBC 1 ten o’clock news tonight led with cricket and not with Corbyn and anti-semitism. The furore means BBC had no choice about reporting the story and it was the second item but handled carefully with kid gloves. No surprise.
ReplyDeleteCricket? Lol...they must have been panicking at the editorial team - surely there must be something else we can put in first place? :)
DeleteIf there are "pockets" of anti-semitism in the Labour Party they are poacher's pockets. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is damage limitation for Corbyn. He knows he can't get elected without the support of those pockets.
ReplyDeleteThis is how the BBC London News reported tonight's demo:
ReplyDelete"Jewish groups have been demonstrating in Westminster this evening against what they say is antisemitism in the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn's failure to stop it. This is despite apologies from the Labour leader."
"What they say...." This presumably is following the same formula as the "Israel says..." type of reporting.
It is not going awfully well for Jeremy, it must be said.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the bbc has brought out Tony. Again.
Which has really helped.