Before launching into his valedictory piece on FOOC, Tim Franks confided that he disapproves of solipsistic journalism, which he helpfully defined for us as the narcissistic ramblings of the ‘me me me’ variety, but he asked us to excuse his indulgence, just this once.
Announcing his resignation as BBC Jerusalem correspondent, he blamed his difficulties on being both a Jew and a journalist. He said he gets accusations of bias from all directions, which he interprets as a testament to his impartiality and objectivity.
When opining negatively about Israel it’s de rigueur to make a declaration of special interest by announcing you’re speaking ‘AsaJew.” This trump card is slapped onto the table as though it bestows special powers of credibility upon the blistering criticism of Israel you’re about to deliver.
It’s ‘AsaJews’ that get the mention and the attention. They’re saying “my background qualifies me to criticise Jews and Israel; by virtue of being a Jew myself I can speak against Israel” It has overtones of: “I’m guilty.” ‘I represent wrongdoers.’ This unearned trump card is useful only to Israel’s detractors.
The truth is AsaJews don’t always know more than others. They might even know far less. Obviously, being ‘a Jew’ covers a vast spectrum of ideological ground. It could imply an allegiance to Israel, or exactly the opposite. A number of Jews dissociate themselves from Israel and Judaism altogether, but whatever type of AsaJew you are, you are neither automatically knowledgeable, nor necessarily incapable of objectivity.
In other words, this declaration of special interest really shouldn’t be of any special interest whatsoever.
But it’s not only that. How often do you hear someone declare, ‘speaking as an antisemite?’ Never. How often do you hear a reporter add a qualifying, ‘AsaMuslim?’ Rarely. Yet the BBC uses Palestinian journalists, stringers and fixers all the time; how often is their partisanship noted or brought in as a disclaimer? It doesn’t need to be really, because ‘we are all Hamas now.’ That is to say, reporting negatively about Israel is the mean standard, the consensus. It’s the position from where we all start. In these turbulent times the legitimacy of the Jewish state itself is being called into question.
Jeremy Bowen has taken advantage of his Charles Wheeler award to indulge in some solipsism of his own.
He told guests at the award ceremony in London last night:
“The BBC Trust accused me, wrongly in my view, of some inaccuracies in my reporting,”
he declaimed, adding:
“They did that because of a rather nasty campaign group in the United States and some highly politically-motivated individuals in this country who were in fact the enemies of impartiality, but they got their thoughts through.”
It’s the Jewish Lobby, don’t you know.
“I think we need to realise that proper news coverage is as important as ever,”he said.
“Charles Wheeler knew that telling the truth, which journalism is supposed to be about, that can put a few people’s noses out of joint…
“If that means that at the BBC we offend a few people and we receive a few nasty letter and some rude articles in some of the newspapers, then I think that is absolutely fine. I think it’s good, why not?”
He could have said “I speak AsanAntisemite.” But he didn’t need to. He just said “I’m impartial; trust me.”
