The BBC has spent a lot of effort, time and money in recent months improving its World News television news: in appearance: set; graphics, and introducing a whole host of new anchors. It actually looks quite dynamic, modern and really captures the feeling of NOW in its news presentation.
But that’s not what has impressed me most lately.
What I really like is what seems to be a whole new degree of fairness in recent weeks in their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Everyone has opinions on who is right and who is wrong over there … but in reporting, it’s really important to give both sides of the story, even if you personally disagree with one side or the other.
Sadly, this is increasingly not the case in North American newspapers, radio or television coverage these days. You don’t have to read a newspaper for very long, listen to radio talk shows or watch much television news political coverage before you can detect the overall editorial slant.
I suspect the reason for this has been declining respect among the owners and their mercenary top managers for the integrity of unbiased journalism as a craft, so news has become more of an instrument to push the owners’ own ideology or point of view. In others, news coverage as propaganda, designed to sway opinion in favour or against a particular side.
The most articulate readers, listeners and viewers can detect these biases; and we should always condemn the biases and reject them .. even if we agree with them ..because they hurt the integrity of journalism and legitimate debate.
And the real danger in media trustworthiness occurs when the one-sided biases are repeated constantly and consistently over time, shaping peoples’ feelings, impressions and opinions … based on half-truths and one-sided stories.
Readers of my articles here are well aware of my earlier criticisms of the BBC World television news. While most of their world news reporting seems quite balanced and fair, I became appalled at what I saw as an anti-Israeli slant in almost all their Middle East reporting. Check out “A BBC War Against Israel” last March and “My Complaint Re BBC World Mid-East Bias” ..they outline my findings/analysis at the time in great detail.
Their coverage of the Hesbollah-Israeli conflict in Lebanon … in the one-sided way stories were shaped, the reporting style, the contents were a disgrace, in my view, verging on almost total anti-Israeli propaganda, and I said so.
It was my honest assessment as a reporter with 38 years’ professional experience and more than a few awards, nationally and provincially, and I was disheartened to see what I saw on the venerable BBC.
It was so bad, I even found the usually pro-Israeli American networks to be fairer than the BBC in covering both sides of the Lebanese conlfict. Now that’s bad!
But something has changed.
I have been watching the BBC’s extensive coverage of the latest Israel-Hamas war and, since I was so vocal with my criticism, I feel I must praise them for what I have largely seen lately.
The BBC coverage has shown both sides of the terrible tragedy that is befalling that part of the world: the horrible damage caused by the Israeli air strikes, but also the damage and horrible fear that Israelis have lived under for months with Hamas shells falling in their midst.
Everyone will have an opinion on who is right or wrong in the latest conflict: that is irrelevant in reporting. The job of the news is to show what’s happening, on both sides, and present interviews reflecting both points of view. Period!
Now I don’t know exactly what happened: are a group of far-left anti-Israel news producers away on holidays?; has there been a management shift at BBC news?; or has there been a lot more people than I shouting out about their terrible one-sided coverage?
I also don’t know if this improvement is only temporary. But the BBC is better!
Of course, it is not yet perfect: on Wednesday afternoon, the World News allowed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to rip Israel apart for about four minutes, in great detail and with great invective , but then cut Israeli spokesman Dan Gellman off after a little over one minute, In fact, he was quite abruptly cut off as soon as he said that contrary to news reports, the Gaza border crossing was open and 175 trucks carrying food and medical aid had gone through.. Boom… he was gone.
But things are better at BBC! And who knows, maybe one day the BBC will even start including an Israeli city, instead of ONLY cities in the Arab countries, when it gives its hourly “Mid-East” weather reports.
Harv Oberfeld
4 responses so far ↓
1 frosty // Jan 1, 2009 at 10:48 pm
halleluja brother! Or should I say mazel tov!
2 BC Mary // Jan 3, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Good grief, Harvey … you mean to tell us that it’s the Lefties who are responsible for berating Israel?? As in:
” … are a group of far-left anti-Israel news producers away on holidays?”
Don’t you think it’s regressive to assign “right” and “left” to opinions of world affairs? I don’t even know what that sentence means, in the present context. Guessing: Israel belongs to the U.S. Republican Party? Is that it? How fair-minded is that.
Typo to correct: 38 [years of] professional experience is probably what you intended, right? (or left?)
(response: Sorry ..no. Wish I could say diufferently , but even as a left of centre type myself, I have noticed it has become “fashionable” amongst the far-left to take almost Pavlovian anti_Israeli and anti-American stands on just about any issue. Sad but true. Check the records of the NDP and unions on such matters: so quick to pass resultions condemning Israel and/or breaking off professional contacts with Israeli organizations ..while saying NOTHING about the massive humAN RIGHTS ABUSES against women, gays, anyone who doesn’t follow the government or Islamic line. Why is that? Especially funny when it’s Israel that has a strong labout union and even openly gay bars and orgs, (despite itso own radical religious nuts) ho)
3 Dirk // Jan 5, 2009 at 12:34 am
Well I guess its like most things,depends on the observer.
Although I watch BBC news everyday my perception is the that the BBC is not quite as bad as American media when it comes to covering the world.Better on Africa than US outlets but on Israel…
In particular the Gaza coverage. To me it seems that the Israeli point off view gets much more play than the Palestinian viewpoint.It definitly is not 1 for 1.
I could be wrong,but then again anything which involves Israel,no matter the media outlet,is like Alice in wonderland.
Israel is always right,Israel is always only reacting to provocations from Palestinians,Lebanon,Syria etc etc
Never is the elephant in the room discussed,in order to put things into context,i.e Israel was formed on lands that had an existing indigenous population.Palestinians were driven from their homes so as to allow European Jews to settle.European who I might add were fleeing other Europeans who had perpetrated a holocaust on them.
Arabs,Palestinians in particular had nothing to do with this.Indeed not one Palestinian nor one Arab country was consulted when the UN then dominated by America and Europe unilaterally decided to create Israel.Again on land already occupied by an indigenous population.Indeed Israeli settlement expansion(a form of violence in itself) continues unabated,hemming Palestinians in to smaller and smaller areas separated even further by hundreds(over 600) of checkpoints.
All of which ensures the non viability of a two state solution.Palestinians live with this reality daily they are the most harassed & victimized people on the planet,60 years and counting.
4 Peter G // Jan 6, 2009 at 6:45 pm
So, Dirk..
When do we give BC back to the “indigenous population”? Come to that, when do the Mexicans get California back? At some point we must accept the status quo and get on with it.
Leave a Comment
CAPTCHA Code is needed.