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Developed by:
| August | 09 |
| 2006 |
It seems I am quite wrong to argue that the BBC is in any way biased in its coverage of Lebanon. Everything has been wonderful and it hasn't put a foot wrong. I know this because a BBC mole has sent me the Beeb's internal Global News Editorial Forum (dated 7th August), which is in effect the BBC's own judgement of its coverage:
Middle East
As the conflict between Israel and Lebanon enters its fourth week, our coverage stands out from our competitors because we continually give context.
...Excellent reporting on the ground from large number of people and Services, in very difficult circumstances. Jim Muir in particular was singled out for his outstanding work.
...We need to hear from the major capitals whenever we can, as well as UN. The French perspective in particular needs to be given space.
The lowering of the Qana death toll last week was a reminder of the need always to attribute fatality figures. We were right to report the revised figure...
Jeremy Bowen is doing a piece for News Interactive next week on war by proxy - an interesting angle others may want to pick up on.
Need to keep following Palestinian story, and reminding people what's happening in West Bank and Gaza. Israel has detained about 30 MPs and a third of the Palestinian cabinet in the past six weeks.
(I have been asked not to quote the entire document but only to quote from it. Rest assured I have kept the full meaning and context - unlike the BBC itself in its reporting, one is tempted to add.)
If this is the the level of rigour to which the BBC subjects its journalism, things are clearly worse than I imagined. It reeks of Soviet 'tractor production up' propagnada. Each and every point is indicative of the BBC mindset:
"[O]ur coverage stands out from our competitors because we continually give context.". This is true. The BBC does indeed stand out - for the sheer bias of its coverage. The 'context' is, of course, one entirely of the BBC's choosing - that Israel is fighting an unrelenting, disproprtionate and unjustifiued attack on an entirely innocent Lebanese population. That's the context on which almost all BBC reporting is based.
"Jim Muir in particular was singled out for his outstanding work." I'm sure he has been, given the BBC's 'context'.
"The French perspective in particular needs to be given space." Yes, quite. There hasn't really been enough coverage of the 'shitty little nation' view of Israel, has there?
"The lowering of the Qana death toll last week was a reminder of the need always to attribute fatality figures. We were right to report the revised figure..." Oh yes, that must have been a knife edge decision. Do we carry on using an entirely inaccurate and over the top figure of the number of deaths, which comes straight from Hezbollah, or do we use an accurate figure? Such are the impossible moral dilemmas faced by BBC news.
"Jeremy Bowen is doing a piece for News Interactive next week on war by proxy - an interesting angle others may want to pick up on." Yeah, because no one else has done that, have they? No other media organisation that is, other than almost every other one in the entire Western world?
"Need to keep following Palestinian story, and reminding people what's happening in West Bank and Gaza. Israel has detained about 30 MPs and a third of the Palestinian cabinet in the past six weeks." And that's the only relevant story there, isn't it? I mean the murder of Israelis which has followed Israel's unilateral pull-out is not really worth bothering with.
We pay our licence fees to put these people's reports on the air.
MessageSpace
A little more on this one if you can:
"I mean the murder of Israelis which has followed Israel's unilateral pull-out is not really worth bothering with."
Do you mean within Gaza?
It appears as if the ever-courageous Stephen Pollard is now the only prominent member of the Jewish community in the UK still sticking up for Israel. All the rest are: taking their hols ("Our villa went up how much last year? Israel? Yes, hmm. Do pass the brie, darling); in hiding under their beds; perfecting their impersonations of Mordechai Rumkowski; watching cricket/soccer matches; spending their time complaining bitterly to their friends ("Oy vey, the goyim hate us, what shall we do?).
James: I'm sure Stephen means in Israel proper, in places like Sederot, you know, by the Kassams. Or the 4 suicide attempts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and other places.
Stephen: I just can't beileve my eyes. Growing up during communism I can only say that it reminds me of production reports of factories depicted in comedies about communism. "the international situation is intensifying" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065067/
Remember that Orwell based his Ministry of Truth on the BBC. As ever the man was prescient.
Joshua said:
It appears as if the ever-courageous Stephen Pollard is now the only prominent member of the Jewish community in the UK still sticking up for Israel.
Perhaps its just as well. I heard Walter Wolfgang speak recently, and his comments were well received.
No doubt you're aware, Helen, that during the war the BBC's output was censored by the Ministry of Information. Inasfar as his BBC experiences were a factor, Orwell conceived the Ministry of Truth as a result of these censorship activities -- that is, the Ministry of Truth was based on the Ministry of Information. If you look, there's a clue in the name.
How a BBC reporter fictionalising the censorship of his work by the government translates into a "prescient" warning about the BBC's own iniquities escapes me. Perhaps you can explain?
It's not so much the censorship but the structure of the BBC that inspired MiniTruth.
Btw, I would be a little more impressed by the self-congratulation if the Beeb managed to work out who is fighting whom in this war. No mention of Hezbollah?
BBC News and Current Affairs accords with the tastes and preferences of middle class public sector workers i.e. Guardian/Independent readers. Why are they anti-Israel? Possibly because public sector workers justify their existence by appealing to the notion that they help victims. Israel is deemed to be a victor – and therefore a creator of victims.
In a free market situation consumers would select the television news station that best satisfies their needs. The only mystery is why non-Guardian/Independent tax payers go along with a system that extracts money from them to fund a news information service they despise.
I noticed non of the detractors of this post didn’t particularly take issue with the content of the leaked statement (i.e. I reckoned they agreed with it)
"We were right to report the revised figure...". Wow. They took some time out to congratulate themselves that they acted like humans for a second.
Government supported pools of mediocrity are probably always going to exist in even the most market orientated societies, and, speaking personally I know a couple of f*cked up friends of mine who can't deal with life working in the civil service (most of them are living on NHS prescribed drugs to get by). They sail by on this attitude self contained mediocrity, bless ‘em, and good luck).
I guess the civil servants at the BBC are a lot more happier than say the average nurse or pensions administrator cos they get to influence the world (oh, and get paid so much money) Yes the BBC was populated by better people during WWII, and Orwell’s satire was relevant to his time. However the time serving gobshites serving their now really shouldn’t flatter themselves that they sail on this legacy.