I just looked back over a previous thread and found this comment from TL which I'm going to take issue with. (new thread because the other was simply a 'post in case people were interested' thread)
Quote:
Originally posted by Timber Loftis:
Sorry, when it comes to Palestine/Israel, I take anything reported by the Beeb with a huge grain of salt. They are very biased on the issue. Any rag that says Arafat was "branded by critics as a terrorist" deserves to get its ass beat.
|
Isn't the quote cited here an indication of strict BBC
impartiality? It may not be what certain people
wish to hear but isn't it the absolute truth?
These two statements are truthful: (quote box is just presentational)
Quote:
His supporters regard him as a freedom fighter.
His critics regard him as a terrorist.
|
I defy anyone to dispute their accuracy.
What I want when I read the news is both sides of the story, so I
expect to see a quote like Timber cited when I see coverage on Arafat. It shows an acknowledgement of two sides to the story which is sorely lacking in American coverage of the conflict.
It may be that one's personal views are so skewed in one direction or another that what is actually a 100% factual statement appears like bias, but in that case, the day the BBC becomes 'unbiased' will be a sad one for reporting standards in the UK.
Consider what would happen if the BBC changed its coverage and simply referred to Arafat as a terrorist (presumably avoiding the need for getting its ass beat now) as you clearly would want Timber, how is it
any better than the likes of Al-Jazeera who (a perhaps unfair example) would just write that Bush is a terrorist as if it was the god-given truth? There is
always two sides to cover and the BBC would be negligent if it did not do this.
All IMO of course. So what do the rest of y'all think? And don't feel restricted to reporting over this particular conflict, I just used that example to pose my question since I disagree most strongly with TL over this. (I was getting worried - I'd been agreeing with virtually everything you've written for the past few weeks!
[img]tongue.gif[/img] )
Edits: Re-arranging and additions
[ 11-23-2004, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]