Jewish, Jewish, Everywhere, & not a drop to drink
Friday, September 19, 2003
From: Honest Reporting
To: simshalom@att.net
Subject: Child Guinea Pigs
and BBC Bias Revealed
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 06:50:14 -0700
HonestReporting Communique
18 September 2003
"CHILD GUINEA PIGS"
* * *
Dear HonestReporting Subscriber,
On Monday (Sept. 15), the IDF caught two barefoot Palestinian children -- ages 8
and 10 -- breaking through the security fence from Gaza.
Why were they breaking through the fence? Agence France-Presse reports a cruel
case of child abuse: "The boys had been sent to test the security capacity of
the fence around the Kissufim area, the Israeli army said Monday."
http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/594.asp
What AFP doesn't report, however, is the boys' statement that an Arab man from
Gaza forced them to do it. "An adult told us to cross the fence, and if not, he
would hurt us," the boys said. IDF officials said that terrorist elements sent
the boys as "guinea pigs" to see how the IDF would react.
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=49772
AFP quotes the IDF that the boys were sent "to test the security capacity of the
fence." But since there's no mention whatsoever of Palestinian agents (who would
also be interested in testing the fence), the reader has no reason to consider
that a malicious Palestinian sent the boys, and is left assuming Israeli guilt.
HonestReporting does not wish to imply that AFP intentionally distorted this
story. However, given the sensitive and volatile nature of the Mideast conflict,
it is irresponsible for journalists to present facts in such a vague manner --
in this case, falsely suggesting that Israel used two innocent boys for a cruel
test of IDF readiness.
Please write to AFP, requesting they clarify the matter in an official
correction: contact@afp.com
--- BEEB-GATE: THE MIDEAST CONNECTION ---
HonestReporting readers are well aware that when it comes to major network media
bias, no one has a worse record than the British Broadcasting Corporation. The
ignominious recipient of our 2001 Dishonest Reporting "Award," BBC News has
demonized the Israeli government and IDF at every turn -- for this, Israel
officially broke links with the BBC in June. Who can forget the words of the
veteran BBC correspondent from Gaza who openly admitted at a Hamas rally that
"Journalists and media organizations [are] waging the campaign
shoulder-to-shoulder together with the Palestinian people"?
http://honestreporting.com/articles/reports/BBC_In-depth.asp
Now the BBC's negligent journalism is finally coming to a head, amidst an
enormous domestic scandal that calls the network's entire future into question.
Here are our cliff notes on the dramatic "Beeb-gate":
ACT I: Last September, to support the ousting of Saddam Hussein, the British
government published a dossier warning against Iraq's imminent threat to the
West.
ACT II: In covering the Iraq War, BBC News was openly hostile to British
military participation, and often supportive of the Iraqi regime. Then, in May,
BBC correspondent Andrew Gilligan dropped a bombshell by reporting that "a
member of the intelligence services" claimed the September dossier was
intentionally "sexed up" to make a more convincing case for military action
(http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/595.asp). Prime Minister Blair's office,
incensed, launched a formal inquiry into the BBC charge.
ACT III: In July, Gilligan's "informant" emerged - Dr. David Kelly from the
Ministry of Defense (not a member of the intelligence services), who met the BBC
reporter in early May. In an official statement, Kelly denied Gilligan's central
point - that Kelly accused the Blair administration of willful deceit. Then
three days later (July 18) Kelly committed suicide in a forest outside his home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3076801.stm
ACT IV: This week (Sept. 17), the whole BBC house of cards came crashing down,
as BBC's Gilligan admitted before an independent judicial board that he never
had a basis for claiming governmental deceit: "The allegation I intended to make
was a spin. I do regret those words...and I shouldn't have used them."
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/17/uk.hutton/index.html
As writer Douglas Davis recently stated, none of this should come as a surprise:
"The BBC sees and hears what the BBC chooses to see and hear. Israel has long
since learned that lesson… Israel might not be able to quantify the effects,
however unintended, of the BBC's deeply flawed coverage of its affairs. But for
the wife and children of David Kelly, the consequences of the BBC's reporting
can be tragically and precisely measured."
http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/596.asp
That's why HonestReporting has long maintained that BBC's distortion of the
Mideast conflict - promoting terms like "militant" and "cycle of violence" -
whitewashes Palestinian terror and emboldens them to further attacks.
To make matters worse, the British public pays for BBC's "journalism": BBC is
largely funded by the 2.3 billion pounds ($3.9 billion US) it receives yearly
from a mandatory 109 pound ($175) licensing fee levied upon every UK television
owner. In return, BBC's Royal Charter demands "authoritative and impartial
coverage of news and current affairs in the United Kingdom and throughout the
world" - a far cry from what BBC delivers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/charter/pdf/charter.pdf
A BBC reporter recently revealed that "[g]oing from a newspaper...to the BBC is
like traveling to another professional planet...What strikes you most about the
BBC scene is what a closed world it is. Walk into a BBC newsroom and you will
hear more talk about the BBC itself than about the outside world: more office
and corporate politics than real politics."
http://www.honestreporting.com/a/r/597.asp
It is high time that the BBC reforms its insular, elitist culture, and be forced
to compete in the open marketplace like all other news agencies. The public
demands that BBC reporters and editors clean up their acts and practice
journalistic integrity.
The time is right to act -- BBC's Royal Charter and funding are presently under
governmental review. HonestReporting encourages subscribers to support the
cancellation or non-renewal of the charter by writing to UK Culture Secretary
Tessa Jowell: tessa.jowell@culture.gsi.gov.uk
British citizens are further encouraged to support the petition drive to end the
TV licensing fee that funds the Beeb: http://www.spiderbomb.com/tv/silence.html
Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com
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