Author Archives: Sue

Panorama (Non Culinary Version)

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I’ve been thinking about the influence the BBC still has over the general public. I hope it’s diminishing, what with other sources becoming part of everyone’s normal news-gathering. But for now it still seems hugely significant; even if it were to cease tomorrow, the residual effect would take time to wear off.

Monday’s Panorama was so one sided that I didn’t even attempt a point-by-point analysis, but chose instead to express my despair in the form of cookery.

Robin Shepherd took the bull by the horns in a more masterful fashion, setting out the programme’s flaws with his customary thoroughness and accessibility. For example he revealed that the individual who was supposed to represent the voice of impartiality and reason was in fact “Danny Seidemann, a well known (but not to British viewers) left-wing lawyer-activist.”
He also added the bits (in bold ) that Jane Corbin neglected to mention, vital bits that changed the entire focus:
“When the State of Israel was born in 1948 — following Arab and Palestinian rejection of a peace agreement accepted by Israel which would have seen the internationalisation of the city — Jerusalem was divided.
The West of the city became part of Israel and the East was controlled by Jordan — which expelled Jewish residents and forbade Jews from praying at all of the city’s holy sites.
In 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem after seizing the West Bank following war with its Arab neighbours. That war was caused by Arab governments and the Palestinians who had the aim of eliminating the state of Israel in its entirety and expelling its Jewish residents.”
When I saw the trail, before seeing the programme, I referred to the same bias by omission on the open thread, and asked:
“Does she think Israel started an unprovoked expansionist war in 1967? It looks like it. She must surely know that that is almost the exact opposite of the truth.”

Honest Reporting delves deeper, setting the record straight and unravelling the misconceptions that Jane Corbin was so eager to perpetuate. In summary, the distortion and denial of the Jewish historical link with East Jerusalem, the allegations of racism and ethnic cleansing in the housing policy, the facts behind the notorious Hanoun family eviction, the shooting incident, and various other notable omissions and half truths.

All of this is not so unusual for the BBC. Does it matter? There are after all, some saving graces. The Newsnight report from Sderot ( scroll to 27:25 ) that was more balanced, though someone mentioned that it took a member of the British Army to do that, and not a BBC employee. (I note that Paxo revised the obligatory Pali war dead figure down from the usual 1400 to 1300, presumably for one day only.)

But the general consensus that Israel’s legitimacy itself is questionable persists.
I wonder why the UK tries so hard to misrepresent a country that it ought to admire, why the BBC has orchestrated a delegitimising campaign that ignores Israel’s wonderful achievements and altruistic deeds, and distorts and twists everything it possibly can to depict it in a bad light, concentrates on its flaws and shortcomings, magnifying them out of all proportion while glossing over that of its – and our own – enemy.

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Cooking with Corbin

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Cookery programmes are still popular, and last night’s Panorama offered another traditional and much loved recipe for making Israel look really evil.

Ingredients.
Two or three bright-eyed fanatics.
One grey-haired self-hating lawyer with American accent.
One or two Chosen People, with multiple progeny.

Spicy Topping:
Assorted Palestinians. (select: sad, angry, wounded, bereaved, evicted from home, tearful child.
Before use, carefully remove all traces of religiously based anti-Semitism and murderous intent.

Garnish.
Available off the shelf: Ready-made clip of small group walking towards camera in religious fancy dress. Must include one large furry hat made from enormous car tyre.

Method.
Pre heat audience by drip-feeding propaganda for 40 years till boiling. Scrupulously remove and discard all historical context. Mix together, dish up and present, preferably by woman who has stolen Clare Short’s face.

If this is facetious, there is a serious side. Panorama used to be an important programme, a flagship BBC product. Now it’s superficial, sensational and slapdash. A microcosm of the BBC.

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Unbelievable

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Here’s something that deserves to be aired on B-BBC.

Guantanamo Guard reunited with ex-inmates.

“But what were the pair doing in Afghanistan in 2001?
They explain that, being in their late teens and early twenties at the time, they had made a naïve, spontaneous decision to travel for free with an aid convoy weeks before a friend’s wedding, due to take place in Pakistan.”

If you believe that you’ll believe anything. The BBC seems to.
Harry’s Place shows the BBC sanitising radical Islam, and yet again meddling in an area that it shouldn’t.
An update includes a transcript of part of an interview on R5 where Victoria Derbyshire asks some questions, but eventually seems to give the Tipton Three the benefit of the doubt.

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Eats, shoots and leaves

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I commented in the open thread about mistakes and shoddy editing. Here’s one.

‘Six Palestinians killed in West bank, Gaza attacks’

Was this responsible for another piece of carelessness that shows how one thing can lead to an other?

“Israel yesterday shot dead six Palestinians in two separate incidents in the West Bank”

It appeared in an anti-Israel editorial in the Observer the next day.

Of course the two incidents were separate, but one was in the West Bank, the other in the Gaza strip, and a comma is different from a forward slash. But if I’m right, it suggests that carelessness, combined with agenda-driven churnalism is alive and well, and that some of us don’t bother to read beyond a headline.

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Foregone Conclusion

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Who could have doubted the sincerity of the bushy bearded cherub innocently proclaiming his bafflement and perplexity over the actions of his former best buddy?
Not the BBC. They accepted it without a murmur.

Our friend Qasam Rafiq is now the spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies. Those cute little cupid’s bow lips are employed to invite a multitude of speakers who have supported the holy war and called for an Islamic Caliphate.
Now we hear that not only are we more complacent than ever about the number of Muslim extremists coming to the UK, we are gaily tolerating radical Islamic Societies in our own universities who invite speakers to come over and evangelise Jihad under our noses.

Malcolm Grant, the provost of UCL still won’t have it. He must be a Guardian reader and a devotee of the BBC. He’s chairing a review into violent extremism at universities. I wonder what the outcome will be.

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Gonna Start a Riot

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The treacherous MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, George Galloway has been away from his constituency lately. He’s been sparking off riots in Egypt. His recent publicity-seeking escapade, getting a convoy of aid to the Palestinians who are currently perceived to be imprisoned in Gaza and starving, has even antagonised the Egyptians.
“ The Egyptian foreign ministry launched a scathing attack on convoy leader British Respect MP George Galloway, claiming that his comments regarding the hold up of the convoy defied “honesty and facts.”
“Being aware that Mr. Galloway loves media exposure, for various reasons, the ministry refrains from engaging in media arguments with someone who deliberately changes facts for personal objectives and masters the promotion of false championships that are based on wrong impressions leading to wrong conclusions,” it said.”

The convoy, organized by Viva Palestina, was unable to get to Gaza in time for the celebrations.
The BBC doesn’t tell us this because they’re more concerned with interviewing the poor activists who have been beaten up. They’re also keen to tell us part of what Gorgeous George said.
“It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza.”
They didn’t bother to report the end of that statement, which was blatantly slanderous and far-fetched: “because nothing that goes to Israel ever arrives in Gaza.”

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Time for Al Het from Naughtie?

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Remember James Naughtie’s disgraceful interview with the Israeli Ambassador Ron Proser on Today 22nd December? I commented that Naughtie seemed unaware of ex President Jimmy Carter’s reputation as the most anti Israel US President ever.

To further a point, Naughtie produced one of Mr. Carter’s notoriously disparaging statements, saying:
“I take it you don’t regard him [Carter] as somebody who is anti-Israel in his bones!”

“Does Naughtie know nothing about this subject?” I wondered.
Well, it’s high time someone tells Naughtie all about it if he doesn’t know already, because now Jimmeh is offering a kind of apology, which, of course, is a tacit admission of guilt.

People are speculating as to whether it’s because his grandson is running for office in an area with Jewish voters, or for some other reason.
The peanut president has written an open letter to the Jewish community, and concludes:
” we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.“

In Hebrew ‘Al Het’ means plea for forgiveness.

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The Elephant in the University

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In yesterday’s mini round-up I began with the BBC interview with cherubic Qasim Rafiq, who appeared to be baffled by the behaviour of his best friend the baby-faced underpants bomber.
The BBC’s apparent assumption that the twosome’s association with the UCL’s Islamic Society was as good as a character reference was baffling too. They accepted it as a kind of alibi and seemed to be satisfied that for this reason alone he couldn’t have been radicalised while he was in the UK.

Robin Shepherd nails it again.

Con Coughlin has:
“even though Abdulmutallab is not even a British citizen, he was still allowed to be elected president of the Islamic Society at University College London (UCL), where he was then allowed to arrange debates on subjects such as Guantanamo Bay and “Jihad v Terrorism”. No points for guessing which side Abdulmutallab was on.”

It seems though, that the BBC is not alone in its refusal to confront the elephant in the uni. The events of Christmas day came as a complete shock to Malcolm Grant of UCL.
It’s freedom of speech innit?

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Yesterday, Today and (probably) Tomorrow.

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You know the annual round-ups we get in the media at every New Year? This round-up is of items from the last couple of days, just to indicate the direction the BBC is taking.

The interview with bushy-bearded Qasim Rafiq, the former best friend of the underpants bomber who swears that nice Mr. Abdulmutallab couldn’t possibly have been radicalized in the UK, or at the UCL, or in the Islamic Society or while he was president of the Islamic Society. So that’s alright then. That’s proof enough for the BBC. “The BBC has learned that the underpants bomber wasn’t radicalized here, and that’s official.”

I’ve read countless articles about University Islamic Societies that describe them as highly radicalizing, and saying that some are actively recruiting, preying on and pressurizing Muslim undergraduates to turn towards extremism. The BBC must have heard about these because they have to know everything. The BBC is always learning this or that, but it evidently hasn’t learned to challenge something that everybody else in the entire world must be wondering why on earth they unquestioningly accept.

Next, the Today guest editor chose some right-on items for us to wake up to. One of them was an alternative Thought for the Day, as though one wasn’t enough-already. This thought was a poem written by revered Palestinian poet, the late Mahmoud Darwish. I’d have preferred something from Nonie Darwish myself, but I won’t be holding my breath.
I’ve nothing against Palestinian poetry especially as this particular poet kindly says he doesn’t hate Jews, just Zionists and Israel. His poetry is rather political as one might expect, but apparently that was not his intention, so I wonder if he would have been comfortable with the intro by guest editor Robert Wyatt’s favourite writer John Berger.
“For 60 years now the Palestinian people have been forcibly separated and exiled from their land, and Darwish’s poetry is about their struggle to keep faith and not to lose hope. It’s a poetry of resistance but at the same time it’s a poetry that admits loss and vulnerability, and absolutely refuses political rhetoric.”
Good. Pity John Berger doesn’t refuse political rhetoric too though. After an ominous period of rustling, he commenced reading the poem. About the mirage; about hope; about the slight difficulty with pronouncing r. And about the wose.
The poem was okay, but John Berger I could have done without.

I was going to comment about the Media Show on Wednesday but they took ages to put it on the website I so gave up. There’s an interesting thread on CiFWatch by Israelinurse about Mehdi Hasan. Here’s what Adloyada says in her comment:
“Mehdi Hasan is increasingly being given a “voice of Muslim opinion” and a “let’s show we’re inclusive by fielding a media man who happens to be Muslim” slot on BBC talk shows, thanks to the position he now holds on the “New Statesman”.
He was on BBC R4 “The Media Show’ just a couple of days ago, on Wednesday 30th, in the latter capacity, part of a panel chaired by Steve Hewlett (Guardian writer), consisting of Simon Jenkins (Guardian columnist), Emily Bell (The Guardian), senior media person who happens to be a woman) and Trevor Kavanagh (ex the Sun and so presumably a Tory just for balance).
All highly balanced–if you happen to think the BBC/Guardian world view is the core median balanced position from which all other views deviate.”

Next. The repeated coverage on BBC news 24 yesterday of award winning footage of Israel attacking Palestinians sheltering in a UN school. It was one of the finalists in the 2009 Rory Peck Awards. Not the winner. The incomplete picture Frank Gardner gave us in his narration somehow brought to mind another iconic bit of film, that of Mohammed Al Durah.

Now here’s something I didn’t see at all. Mahmoud Abbas’s glorification of Dalal Mughrabi, perpetrator of a bus hijacking in Israel that ended with the deaths of civilians and children. As Robin Shepherd points out “There is nothing on the BBC – though there is plenty about Gaza, one anniversary they do seem to be taking notice of.”

If this represents some of what we get from the BBC over a couple of days, no wonder fings aint what they used to be.

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End of Year Quiz

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1.Who ends sentences on an upward inflection and is too cool to, you know, pronounce the ‘T’ at the ends of words?
A.) Some Teenagers; B.) Labour MPs; C.) Mark Thompson; D.) The terminally insecure; D.3. ) Puff Daddy.

2. Who repeatedly trots out the well known ‘inflated-salaries-of-BBC-management-defence’ “ if we want the best we need to pay top whack” without explaining why the same argument doesn’t apply to the comparatively modest salaries of the creative staff?
(You Gets What You Pays For?) hmm.
A.) P. Diddy; B.) The management staff at the BBC; C.) Mark Thompson on Today R4.

3. Who sounds, you know, a tiny bit like, um um um, a stammering stuttering nincompoop?
A.) The Director general of the BBC; 3 down. ) Someone else?

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