BBC pays £200,000 to ‘cover up report on anti-Israel bias’ – DailyMail.co.uk: This is not the first time the blog has posted stories about the bias in the coverage from the BBC, and now there’s this.
The BBC has been accused of “shameful hypocrisy” over its decision to spend £200,000 blocking a freedom of information (FOI) request about its reporting in the Middle East.
The corporation, which has itself made extensive use of FOI requests in its journalism, is refusing to release papers about an internal inquiry into whether its reporting has been biased towards Palestine.
The corporation is fighting a landmark High Court action, which starts next week, in a bid to prevent the public finding out what is in the review, which is believed to be critical of the BBC’s coverage in the region.
The BBC’s determination to bury the report has led to speculation that the report was damning in its assessment of the BBC’s coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict that the BBC wants to keep it under wraps at all costs.
“First, you claim that Israel controls the government of the USA, now you imply that the Israeli government is controlled by the USA. Or at least your definition of the term “neo-con” is sharply at odds with the usual moonbat definition of that term.”
Talk about non-sequitors. I never claimed that Israel controlled the government of the USA, they dont and they cant. There are however many that take the Israeli side unquestionably, either because they want control of Middle East resources and a strong friendly to the west country like Israel is a means to an end, or they are evangelicals wishing to “immanentize the eschaton” and believe that Israel will lead the way to the battle of armageddon and the second coming of Christ as supposedly foretold in prophecy. Personally, I don’t have a problem with Israeli interests, except when they contradict American interests.
And that is where the “neo-cons” come in, and I am not using the moonbat definition, but the philosophical definition. The neo-conservative philosophy is based on the philosophy of Nietzsche and Hegel and Leo Strauss. It is a philosophy which encourages seperate rules for the rich and powerful “supermen” over and above the contemptible “last men”. It is a philosophy of war and intimidation and fear-mongering and dividing “us” vs “them” for the sake of power.
Israel is not controlled by the US, there is no need. The leadership of both countries share the same flawed philosophy, however, and that is why I criticize the Israeli government so harshly… and the American government for that matter.
Blog hits must be down huh?
We get an Israeli post this time, instead of the latest Bush outrage.
I read BBC News online everyday. But, I understand that it’s biased, against Israel, the US and it’s own goverment(the one that pays it’s bills). While normally the BBC has excellant news coverage, when they editorialize, thats when the bias really shines. Otherwise it just comes out in story placement(very much like ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, TNYT, the WP, the LAT, Fox News).
As for Israel ArianeB….we won’t talk about the 2 or 3 pogoms every 100 years for over 1800 years in almost every so-called Christian nation from Russia to England….instead we will just mention the last 70 years. Who can blame a country for having a bit of a chip on their shoulders(the same shoulder they have to keep looking behind them over to avoid sneak attack, by those innocent little Muslim folks), or that they might be a bit paranoid about countries claiming they aren’t in danger whenever a Muslim nation threatens to **wipe them from the face of the earth**…after all, in this last 70 years they have had 6 million of their men, women and children, gassed, cremated alive and shot, withstood 3 wars of aggression by their poor misunderstood neighbors, and defended itself against 6 years of suicide bombers that targeted women, and babies(NOT military targets, CIVILIAN) and have lost almost 2000 civilians from those just kidding Muslim bombers. Beats me why they might be sensitive about what you laughingly call **critisim**.
Unlike you,(in your defense of the Muslims) I do understand that the Israelie’s aren’t completely clean handed…..but also unlike you, I can at least see why they may not be joyous to see Iran capable of making Nukes.
Just what we need now, another Holy War, blog style. Can I be the arms dealer?
“[Insert religious icon here] guys, let’s give ’em something to believe in and then pay them to fight over it.”
Anyone identifying the source of the previous quote gets extra bonus points.
Am I the only person left in world who is non-aligned in the Israel-Palestinian conflict?
I see victims and victimizers on both sides.
Actually joshua, I agree with you, and Greg too.
The world is not made of black and white countries, it is all a lot of shades of gray, and I find that the people like Frank who don’t see the shades of gray to be offensive.
The black vs white crowd sees Iran as black and Israel as white. I’m saying Iran is not black, they have a shade of gray that is not worth starting world war III over.
Israel is not white either. Agree or disagree with my criticisms, they are philosophical based and are not either anti-semitic or anti-zionist in origin.
So the black vs white crowd sees me defending Iran and attacking Israel and immediately assumes I like Iran more that Israel. Not true, being forced to choose where to live between the two, I’d much rather live in Israel.
It is flawed black vs white thinking among the neo-cons, and the fundamentalist Christians and the fundamentalist Muslims that threatens to destroy the world needlessly for everybody.
ArianeB –
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East (unless you include Turkey as part of the ME). Not only can Arabs living in Israel vote, they even have their own political parties (two). Unlike their fellow Arabs in Syria, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia.. This is one of the many reasons why I will always give Israel the benefit of the doubt, over its neighbors.
If that’s “black and white thinking”, that’s your problem, not mine.
The neo-conservative philosophy is based on the philosophy of Nietzsche and Hegel and Leo Strauss. It is a philosophy which encourages seperate rules for the rich and powerful “supermen” over and above the contemptible “last men”.
I am not using the moonbat definition
Oh yes you are.
Frank IBC, in #14 you said “Yeah, so what if Iran is developing nuclear weapons and is threatening to use them against the US.”
Is that really true? I admit, I don’t really watch the news, especially Fox News, as much as I’d like. I must have missed the story where Iran threatened to use a weapon against the U.S. that most authorities agree they don’t yet possess. No wonder we consider them so belligerent. In your enthusiasm to make a point, you might have overreached a bit, but I can’t help but wonder how many people actually believe the threat is that real and that imminent.
On the other hand, the U.S. is known to have a special panel in our Pentagon commissioned with planning a bombing attack against Iran that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from our President. The purposes of that attack would be destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities and regime change. Geez, no reason for them to be paranoid, knowing that one of our goals is to change their government.
If I were in Iran’s position, I bet I’d be smart enough to see that developing a nuclear deterrent is the best guarantee for their long-term survival. And again, if I were in their position, I’d target any nukes at Israel with this threat: “Invade Iran, and Israel gets it” (a little phraseology from old movies).
Whatever paranoia Iran felt a few years ago has been multiplied a hundredfold with America’s newly demonstrated willingness to invade a foreign country that never attacked us, based primarily on our fear of what they might do at some time in the future (plus a few trade issues).
#32
You don’t know me at all Milo. So your prejudice comment about me puts you in the same light as which you deem me as. I have no time for politics or religious wars, those are games for the ethically sick.
#26
No problem.
#36 – I see victims and victimizers on both sides.
I fully agree with you.