12 Responses to Al-Jazeera editor in chief resigns, joins BBC.

  1. lee moore says:
    January 17, 2004 at 2:46 pm

    Off topic (but still in the Middle East)

    A beautifully balanced tale of how the Lebanese have returned to the barbarity of the death penalty

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3404691.stm

    We hear about protestors, we hear about the former Prime Minister who refused to approve executions, we hear about Amnesty’s objections, we hear about other “human rights” groups’ objections, we even hear about the EU’s objections. Nothing is omitted, except…..

    surprisingly we hear nothing about the views of other Lebanese people, either the people who did approve the sentences or about public opinion. Nor do we hear that Amnesty and friends are, on this subject, a minority opinion in this country.

    I wonder why. Oh, all right, I don’t really.

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  2. Barry says:
    January 17, 2004 at 4:47 pm

    Kilroy to step down from BBC.
    Got this by way of LGF
    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=9636_Silk_Sacked#comments

    “In a carefully worded statement agreed by both sides, Kilroy-Silk said he believed it was the right time to leave the programme and concentrate on other projects but it is clear that he was given no choice by BBC bosses.”
    So now Brits will have to put with a PC bias.

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  3. Andrew Zalotocky says:
    January 17, 2004 at 5:04 pm

    I suppose the logical conclusion for this thread would be for the BBC to announce that they’d hired Comical Ali to replace Kilroy.

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  4. Susan says:
    January 17, 2004 at 8:09 pm

    Naw, Comical Ali already has a good job. They will probably end up hiring Tom Paulin to replace Kilroy.

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  5. ed says:
    January 17, 2004 at 8:26 pm

    I’d like to, but I can’t, laugh about this.

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  6. Peter says:
    January 18, 2004 at 1:25 am

    It is appalling that the BBC is so arrogant and out of touch that it doesn’t seem to even try to be diplomatic.
    Gavyn Davis,Greg Dyke,Trevor Phillips,Labour men all,this smells like a political fix,whens the election?

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  7. StinKerr says:
    January 18, 2004 at 7:27 am

    Even their announcement has a distinct bias. The first complaint I recall hearing about al Jaz was the continuous running of a loop of video showing U.S. solders with bullet holes in their foreheads. The Beeb seems to overlook that and harp on the bin Laden tapes. The bin Laden tapes have been aired on U.S. cable and broadcast stations too. What a crock!

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  8. Marc says:
    January 18, 2004 at 10:08 am

    Let’s see…fire Kilroy for making accurate anti Arab comments and hire the head of Al-Jazeera, an inaccurate, anti American news station. If you ever had any doubts where the BBC stood they should be dispelled now! Check this out
    http://www.buzzmachine.com/

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  9. carnell says:
    January 18, 2004 at 11:38 am

    if the BBC want to hire Aljazeera and sack kilroy then let the arab militants fund it instead of the british TV owners, most of whom must pay th BBC to watch thier competitors.

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  10. Anthony says:
    January 18, 2004 at 8:25 pm

    The BBC World Service is not funded by TV owners via the licence fee, but by the general taxpayer (The Foreign Office make the payments).

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  11. Alan says:
    January 19, 2004 at 9:41 am

    I thought it was a joke until I followed the link… Unbelievable – you couldn’t make this up. Perhaps Ibrahim Helal will replace Kilroy-Silk.

    How long before we have muslim newsreaders wearing headscarfs on the 9 o’clock news?

    Jeez…

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  12. steve jones says:
    January 21, 2004 at 5:02 pm

    > How long before we have muslim newsreaders wearing headscarfs on the 9 o’clock news?

    well there isn’t a 9 oclock news any more on the bbc, and the bbc does have a muslim newsreader now -http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/scotland/asadahmad.shtml

    are you angry that the bbc isn’t racist like you, that it’s fired someone who expressed racist sentiment, that it’s biased, or that it’s hired someone who knows a lot about the politics of one of the most important and complex areas for journalists to be covering at the moment?

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