…BBC doesn’t let the facts of its own story get in the way of a headline
bemoaning American police racism…
The headline: Cincinnati death blamed on police
The exerpt: [The coroner, whose report is the focus of the story] added that the ruling should not be interpreted as implying inappropriate behaviour or the use of excessive force by police”.
Note the photo of a crying relative at the bottom, next to this:
“Police talk about Skip like he was animal,” his grandmother said. “But he
wasn’t. Skipper was just a good, old, fat jolly fellow.”It’s not mentioned anywhere in the story that Skip Jones was high on PCP, which _does_ cause people to behave like animals. It’s the same substance, mind you, that Rodney King was on during his high-profile arrest and several subsequent arrests. Of course this is an awful experience for the relatives,
but the guy wasn’t exactly trying to stay out of trouble.
A reader writes:
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How about the current leading article on BBC.com’s America’s page on Gore’s Dean endorsement that features a sside bar link “Iraq Spells Trouble for Bush.”
Well, it seems that Iraq spells trouble for Dean, since the majority approve of Bush’s stance, not Dean’s. Anyway, click through and you’ll see that they’ve now reharvested a 2 1/2 month old artile by everybody’s favorite Washington correspondend, Matt Frei, on Bush’s speech at the UN!
What does this have to do with anything? I don’t believe its been on the page for quite a while so someone consciously decided to repost it for some unknown reason. No agenda here.
On the Cincinnati thing, it is outrageous that there is no mention of the fact that the man was strung out on PCP, which can produce an extremely violent reaction.
To borrow from HBO —
“It’s not journalism, its BBC”
This site seems to be having at least some effect. The headline on the article has already been changed.
Alright, BBC lurkers – move the Bush piece you’ve now attached to the Gore/Dean headline. It includes such dated statements as —
“Nevertheless the White House is getting nervous. They always knew the economy was going to be a problem and there is only so much they can do to make Americans feel better off when jobs are still been shed.”
News flash: the economy is booming and unempolyment is down.
Here’s another interesting divergence —
BBC.com features this headline:
“UN warns of population surge”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3302497.stm
while the Washington Post reports:
“U.N. Predicts Much Slower Growth in Population”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47359-2003Dec8.html
and, the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Population boom ‘to slow'”
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/09/1070732212097.html
The facts are that the UN’s median prediction is for a doubling of the world’s population over the next 300 years (whereas it quadrupled during the 20th century). That looks like a slowing not “surging” rate of growth, doesn’t it?