The BBC News search engine is a vital tool for analysis of BBC bias. How else could one find “your 99 search results for far-left” and compare against “your 1,329 search results for far-right” ?
Unfortunately the search engine ain’t very good. Worse, the ‘bog-standard’ search misses some results completely.
Eighteen months ago I wrote a post contrasting the media reporting of two murders – one by an Iraqi Kurdish refugee, one of an Iraqi Kurdish refugee.
When I wrote the original post, I could find no BBC report at all of the murder by the Iraqi. I searched using the vanilla engine for the victim’s name, Anthony Farrell and could find nothing. However I could find a result if I looked for the name of the murderer. The ‘vanilla’ engine, it turns out, will find “Anthony Farrell” in double-quotes (but not otherwise), but will find Ali Karim without quotes. The advanced engine finds both without quotes. Why ?
There’s a reason for asking. After the far-right BNP (far-right as opposed to the ‘nationalist’ Hamas) made gains in the Barking and Dagenham local council elections, some predicted a rise in racist incidents. Here’s a BBC report of such an attack, carried out on May 17th.
It was a disgusting attack, as are all such attacks on innocents, which the BBC were right to report. But it wasn’t the only violent incident in the Barking and Dagenham area that week. Six days later, on May 23rd, two men were left critically injured in a shooting in Parsloes Avenue, Dagenham.
There seems to be no report of the incident on BBC News. I’m not sure if they don’t think the story is worth reporting on, or if the search engine is so bad that I can’t find it.
UPDATE – an apology. Earlier in the post I described the death of Kalan Karim as ‘murder’. Of course the person who attacked and killed him without warning in Swansea was not at all a murderer, but was found guilty of manslaughter. His five years should be up around this time next year, given current sentencing discounts.
Try searching “BBC News and Sport” for “palestinian factional fighting” then “palestinian factional fighting deaths” in both cases without the “quotes”.
Note the difference.
What’s wrong with the BBC search engine? Nothing. It’s a government funded search engine, so it is of relatively poor quality, just like government funded hospitals, schools, dentists and housing. If you want a proper search engine you have to go private.
Please put up a new Open Thread.
The BBC manages to present an “In Pictures” article about the Dachau concentration camp without once mentioning the ethnicity of the vast majority of its victims:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/5112538.stm
Astonishing even for the BBC. I’m surprised they didn’t refer to the Holocaust as “the so-called Holocaust”, after all many Muslims refuse to believe it happened.
Imagine that 40,000 Muslims had been killed at Dachau – can you imagine the BBC going ten pages without telling us of this fact or our associated guilt for not preventing it? No, I can’t either.
rob -> now THAT is just staggering. i’m speechless.
David Irving is probably giving them advice from his prison cell in Austria on how to twist the Holocaust into an unrecognisable shape.
Biodegradable: “Note the difference”
What difference? 65 hits for first one, 47 for the second, same articles on both.
Rob: You’re absolutely right. I hadn’t noticed at first. One might get the idea that ‘arian’ Germans were killed there. The ‘so-called Holocaust’ suggestion is brilliant.
theghostofredken:
I used those search terms to try to find the numbers of “Palestinians” killed by other “Palestinians” in factional fighting to contrast with the numbers of dead bandied about as a result of Israeli targeted assassinations.
Results will vary as news articles are added but right now its not easy, using those search terms, to get news of “Palestinian” victims of “Palestinian” violence, in fact it seems to me that what I’m actually looking for is being hidden from me.
Here are just the first few:
“Page 1 of 19 pages for palestinian factional fighting”
News – Analysis: Violence before diplomacy
The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen assesses how the current crisis in Gaza could destabilise the political process in the Middle East.
86% relevance | 28 Jun 2006
News – Shaky Palestinian deal ‘not enough’
The deal reached between Hamas and Fatah offers some hope to the Palestinians but little for the peace process, the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen says.
86% relevance | 27 Jun 2006
News – Palestinians back prisoner release call
For Palestinians, militants’ call for the release of prisoners in exchange for an abducted Israeli soldier makes perfect sense.
86% relevance | 27 Jun 2006
News – Israeli soldier ‘seized’ in raid
Palestinian militants kidnap an Israeli soldier during a raid on an army post near the Gaza Strip, the military says.
84% relevance | 25 Jun 2006
News – Palestinian leaders hold meeting
The Palestinian president and prime minister hold talks in a bid to resolve differences between rival factions.
86% relevance | 24 Jun 2006
Results from BBC Audio & Video »
3 of 24 results for palestinian factional fighting
No recognition of Israel – Hamas
Rival Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas have reached agreement on a common political strategy.
27 Jun 2006
No recognition of Israel – Hamas
Rival Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas have reached agreement on a common political strategy.
27 Jun 2006
Hamas ‘implicitly accepts Israel’
The two main Palestinian factions say they have reached agreement on a manifesto for a common policy towards Israel.
27 Jun 2006
“Page 1 of 5 pages for palestinian factional fighting deaths”
News – Israeli soldier ‘seized’ in raid
Palestinian militants kidnap an Israeli soldier during a raid on an army post near the Gaza Strip, the military says.
84% relevance | 25 Jun 2006
News – Timeline: Iraq
A chronology of key events
81% relevance | 8 Jun 2006
News – Israel captures Hamas commander
Israeli forces arrest the leader of Islamic group Hamas’ military wing in the West Bank in a raid in Ramallah.
83% relevance | 23 May 2006
News – Peretz praises W Bank operation
Defence Minister Amir Peretz lauds an Israeli raid that sparked the worst violence in the West Bank in weeks.
82% relevance | 15 May 2006
News – Palestinian prisoners urge unity
Palestinian faction leaders jailed in Israel propose a series of measure aimed at ending factional fighting.
80% relevance | 11 May 2006
News – Tel Aviv bombing dismays papers
Monday’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv dominates the Israeli, Palestinian and Middle Eastern press.
85% relevance | 18 Apr 2006
Results from BBC Audio & Video »
3 of 4 results for palestinian factional fighting deaths
Three die at Palestinian funeral
Three people have been killed and at least 12 injured in fighting between Palestinian factions at a funeral.
31 Mar 2006
Militants call for post-Arafat unity
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, and other factions, have called for new unified leadership following the death of Yasser Arafat.
16 Nov 2004
Arafat remains in critical state
Yasser Arafat continues to fight for his life as Palestinian leaders gather to discuss who might succeed him if he dies.
6 Nov 2004
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Surely I should be getting some results about “Palestinians” fighting amongst themselves, shouldn’t I?