Latest BBC report on Gaza marks new low in anti-Israeli bias
In its sheer contempt for basic journalistic standards, today’s BBC reporting on Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza is breathtaking. The report, available in text and video versions on the BBC website, is entitled: “Israel soldiers speak out on Gaza”. It is being given top billing both on the website and on BBC television. It purports to show how the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) committed numerous acts of bestiality during the Gaza campaign. The television version opens with the following, sombre words:
“The Israel army had a ready answer to claims of war crimes in Gaza: this was Palestinian propaganda. Now, these accusations are being made by Israeli soldiers.”
Really? Could you just clarify the basis for that claim? Dim the lights. Speak in hushed tones. “More than 25 Israeli soldiers have come forward to claim war crimes were committed…”
So, this storyis based on the testimony of “more than 25″ Israeli soldiers. Mathematically speaking, that is correct. The number of Israeli soldiers involved, the website report later notes, is actually 26, and since 26 is more than 25 the BBC cannot thus far be faulted. But hold on a second. While we’re on the subject of the maths, how many Israeli soldiers were involved in the Gaza campaign? Estimates vary and it depends on how one defines “involvement”. But a reasonable estimate based on press reports would be about 12,000.
The report is thus based on a sample representing approximately 0.2% of the forces involved. That’s two per thousand. Surely, that would give an editor pause for thought. But let’s take this further. Who are these soldiers? They are anonymous, we are told. A serious editor would by this stage have binned the report to get on with something more worthwhile. But let’s take it further still. What sort of organisation is representing them? It’s a far-Left Israeli group called Breaking the Silence which is notorious for its searing criticism of the Israeli military.
So let us be clear about this. The BBC is giving massive coverage through all of its worldwide operations to allegations that the Israeli armed forces showed flagrant disregard for Palestinian civilians, that it used civilians as human shields, that Israeli soldiers acted like vandals and fired at fresh water tanks because they were bored, and that Israeli soldiers and civilians who support the Israeli Defense Forces are “”slid[ing] together down the moral slippery slope” on the basis of the following: anonymous allegations from a group of soldiers representing 0.2% of the troops involved being pushed through the filter of an organisation with a clear political bias.
Of course, lower down the story, the report does include rebuttals from the Israeli military. But by this time the damage has been done.
The truth is that no respectable media outlet should be running any story at all on the basis of this kind of sourcing. At the very least, a basic commitment to balance would ensure that whatever story was put out should be peppered with health-warnings about its ultimate credibility. Not a bit of it. Amazingly, there is not a single word explaining Breaking the Silence’s bias.
Any serious journalist knows that the credibility of the source is the most important criteria in deciding whether or how a story should be run. It is the most fundamental of all journalistic principles.
Today a line has been crossed. This is not journalism. It is propaganda.
But there is one more thing to be said about this report. It contains a built-in defence against the charge of bias which is significant:
“Many of the testimonies,” the BBC notes, “are in line with claims made by human-rights organisations that Israeli military action in Gaza was indiscriminate and disproportionate.”
Previous reports from anti-Israel rights groups — Amnesty International, for example — are thus used as a mechanism for validating the anti-Israeli bias of the report on which the current story is based. It is a licence for a never ending cycle of anti-Israeli demonisation, each new package of distortions being legitimised by what has preceded it. Welcome to the world of the Israel haters.
To read the full report and to see the video, click here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8149464.stm
July 15th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Congratulations - the BBC has now changed “more than 25″ to “26″.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Why isn’t there a proper, concerted campaign to stop paying the licence fee? In a recession, I’ve got better things to spend my money on than bigoted bile.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/
Biased BBC covers this
July 15th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Dejavu
Isn’t this the same story that was put out months ago,almost word for word,and was refuted?
July 15th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
IDF spokesperson has issued a statement. See http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2009/Reaction_to_Breaking_Silence_report_15_Jul_2009.htm
But will the BBC give this equal prominence?
July 15th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Of course the BBC wont give this the prominence it deserves simply because the BBC has made its mind up. Israel is guilty and must be punished.
Mailman
July 18th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Here is an interesting blogpost that gives a “behind-the-scenes”glimpse of how Breaking the Silence went about distributing their report…
http://forecasthighs.com/2009/07/15/breaking-breaking-the-silence/
Of course, it’s also noteworthy that they get quite a bit of European money — but sure those donors also fund similar organizations in their own countries???