Author Archives: Ed Thomas

Scott Burgess- in one of his usual perspicacious posts- notes a BBC Radio 4 beaut on the recent snow in Britain:

“The most obvious sign that snow had come was outside.”

The reason is the death of hope, caused by a cocktail of Israel’s military activities, land expropriation and settlement building – and the financial sanctions imposed on the Hamas led government which are destroying Palestinian institutions that were anyway flawed and fragile.

The “death of hope”, eh? Sounds pretty comprehensive to me.

I thought about the leaked email from Jeremy Bowen when I made comparison between this November 2006 BBC report of a Christian exodus from Bethleham, and this January 07 articlefrom the Jerusalem Post. What you notice as the BBC journalist attempts to explain a massive lurch from Christian to Muslim domination is that somehow Israel is to blame for it. Two thirds of the article is devoted to the actions and restrictions meted out by Israel.

Most pathetic is the attempt made to tick the old “public/private” box when interviewing the locals:

“Publicly Christians here insist there is no friction with the Muslim majority.Earlier this year though the Islamist Hamas movement came to power.

And in private some say they now dress more conservatively. There have also been fights between Christian and Muslim families.”

Mmm- it would seem these “fights” were a little one-sided, given statistics which show that what was once an 85% Christian town is now 15% Christian (must be all the Jews moving in and grabbing land as usual, eh, Jeremy?).

Maybe the BBC could learn a little more, and so could we, from attending to the report (a second link here to the JP’s eyeopener) of Palestinian Muslim Khaled Abu Toameh. The brutal truth is out there, Aunty, but you don’t care.

“A number of Christian families have finally decided to break their silence and talk openly about what they describe as Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in this city.The move comes as a result of increased attacks on Christians by Muslims over the past few months. The families said they wrote letters to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican, Church leaders and European governments complaining about the attacks, but their appeals have fallen on deaf ears.”

I’ve always thought one of the most effective ways to show the BBC is biased is the collective laugh of disbelief or roar of disapproval.

Three bloggers for you: Dale, Fawkes and some Prague fellow.

All aghast at the extent to which the BBC is keeping quiet on the flames of political scandal licking ever closer to the PM himself.

Iain Dale sums up:

“Britain’s premier current affairs interview programme managed to get through a whole hour with barely a mention of the Cash for Peerages Inquiry which dominates the news and the Sunday papers. No mention of it in the BBC news bulletins, no mention of it in the newspaper review with Trevor Phillips and Jane Moore, one patsy question for Lord Falconer who said he wasn’t playing and that was, er, it.”

And that should, er, be it for any diehard defenders of the BBC’s impartiality. Remember brown envelopes? You should, if you were watching the BBC.

Can they possibly understand what a news article is? Are they too concerned about the poor delicate egos of their Somali news team that they daren’t criticise the blatant one-sideness of the coverage?

What kind of NEWS article is headed “Fears stalk Somalia’s capital once again”

What kind of reporter states so baldly “The advice from one and all is to get Ethiopian troops to withdraw from the country and replace them with African peacekeepers.”

Does everyone love the so-called peacekeepers of the AU so much? Or resent the loss of the Islamofascists who hated entertainments and freedom so much?

Truly blatant stuff. Pathetic and worthless for real understanding. The BBC would be better off without their Somalia section.

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I’ve been trying to get round to this for a long time, and I know other commenters have been noticing the BBC’s pro-Islam coverage in Somalia. The BBC is just rancid on this subject, and there may be good reasons why that is.

I, partly inspired by the great blogger DFH, and commenters here, have been delving into the BBC’s Somalia coverage, and it’s murky.

DFH had a great post up a while back which demonstrated that the BBC’s chief man in Somalia is in fact a businessman supportive of the Islamic Courts, who is seen as partisan by opponents of the Courts.

There can be little doubt of the views of this Mr Yusuf Garaad Omar. I was almost knocked over with disbelief when I read this commentary on the Islamic Courts’ governance on the BBC:

“Fear of a good lashing or having one’s head shaved is keeping drivers in Somalia’s capital on the straight and narrow.”

Oh yes, a “good lashing”‘s something the BBC’s always been behind, isn’t it?

Garaad continued, “Trials are swift and punishments public: publicity is their policeman.”

Oh how nifty.

I now notice that some different sheriffs are in charge, and it seems Mr Garaad’s “news” service is changing tune:

“Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of the Somali capital Mogadishu in protest at the presence of Ethiopian forces backing the interim government.”

When the Islamists were in charge we got only paeans to “law and order”, no interviews with the targets of the punishments, no quotes from the inevitable opponents of such a draconian regime.

Now we’re getting the works:

“Some government troops and Ethiopian forces opened fire to disperse the crowds and my son was hit by a bullet,” Omar Halame Rage told AFP.

“This is unacceptable and an inhuman action. We don’t need those Ethiopian forces with their government soldiers if they are shooting our children,” he is quoted as saying.”

Nice job, though, Beeb, hiding behind the AFP there.

Meanwhile, “Observers say Mogadishu is awash with weapons, and violence has increased since Ethiopian-led troops ousted Islamist militias.”

Funny how Mogadishu wasn’t “awash with weapons” when the I.C. were in charge. It’s such bullshit, such blatantly stupid bullshit designed to increase pressure on the Ethiopians internationally and offer comfort and a future to the ousted Islamists.

In seeing the BBC as biased in Somalia we would not be alone. Many voices have been raised in the blogosphere. An interesting instance can be found here. But really, when the facileness of the BBC’s coverage is considered, it is clear that a massaging of reality has been taking place. It is morally insupportable, and certainly not worth paying for.

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.