The BBC considers Palestinians in Gaza to be unique among the peoples of the world. They, and they alone, are too “controversial” to be worthy of humanitarian aid at a time of extraordinary crisis. Blankets for children whose homes were destroyed in the middle of winter; food parcels for families with virtually no means of subsistence - sorry Gaza, you can’t have them because you’re just not like other people, real people, are you? So it seems, according to the BBC.
Since 1963, British broadcasters have had an agreement with an umbrella group of major charities. At times of severe humanitarian crisis, they have given free air time to strictly apolitical, totally non-partisan appeals by the Disasters Emergency Committee which represents 13 aid groups including the British Red Cross, Oxfam, Cafod, Save the Children, Christian Aid and World Vision. The appeals have been made for victims of earthquakes, floods, famine and war. Until now.
Now, one group of people is alone in being too “controversial” to help. An impartial appeal, criticizing no one, casting no blame on any side, simply asking for money to provide desperately needed food parcels and blankets for those in extreme need might damage public perception of the “impartiality” of the BBC. According, that is, to the BBC.
A BBC spokesperson said:
The BBC decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation and also to avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story.
So, BBC, when you broadcast the appeal for victims of the civil war in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo last November, are you now saying the situation there was not “volatile”? Are you now saying that the war there was not “an ongoing news story”? Are you now saying that the appeal compromised your “impartiality”?
Here is the appeal issued for the Congolese victims of a war that was very much an “ongoing news story” when it was broadcast last year. This is the kind of appeal that would have been broadcast for Gaza. And it will now be broadcast by every other terrestrial TV station in Britain because ITV, Channel 4 and Five have now rediscovered their collective backbone and decided to air the appeal without the BBC.
Note that in November, the BBC was perfectly OK with presenting the following words about the brutal war in the D.R. of Congo:
The DEC’s agencies have been supporting people in this region for many years, so in spite of the difficulties of working in a war-torn area, they’re confident that they can get aid through.
The British government says the claim that aid might not reach those in need in Gaza is absurd. It also rejects the claim that broadcasting the appeal would damage the BBC’s credibility. Britain’s opposition parties agree with the government. So do the charities that have spent decades getting aid through to those who need it. But the director-general of the BBC still says sorry, but no, because:
… Gaza remains an ongoing and highly controversial news story within which the human suffering and distress which have resulted from the conflict remain intrinsic and contentious elements.
For some reason, this did not apply to the conflicts in Kosovo, Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And difficulties in getting aid to people in need did not apply to victims of last year’s cyclone in Myanmar. Only Palestinian children are too “controversial” to be given blankets and food. Only Gaza is to “volatile” to be sure aid will get through.
So, now we know just how “impartial” the BBC really is.
For a full list of the charities that make up the Disasters Emergency Committee and for information about their current and former appeals and how to donate, visit their website at www.dec.org.uk.
10 Comments
It’s outrageous of course.
The thing is that Israel, impose a total blockade on the Gaza strip including land and sea. It’s an occupied territory and to send aid in would be to openly challenge that policy - backed by the USA.
Cynthia McKinney was on the boat trying to take aid in the first time, and was rammed.
BBC = gov stooges.
You guys are so right. Israel should throw open the border with Egypt, so that the people who *should* be taking care of the Gazan people (their elected government, i.e. Hamas) can get back to spending all of their money on explosives to kill Israelis and luxury goods for their own leadership. Wake up, you twits. When they’re done killing every Jew in the Middle East (their stated goal) they’re coming for you next.
Well done for carrying water for another attack on BBC editorial independence.
We all know the BBC has all sorts of implicit biases, but that’s mostly to do with being bien-pensant public schoolboys. If you can’t spot the reason why they might treat the hotly lobbied Israel-Palestine issue differently to the Congo you’re a moron. There’s no sinister Zionist agenda, they’re just copping out. In the cosmic scheme of things making a big deal of this won’t mean much to the poor people of Gaza fucked over yet again by the IDF, but it will aid Murdoch and his ilk in their ongoing campaign to undermine public service broadcasting in the UK.
Jim, you would appear to be suggesting that the BBC’s right to editorial independence means its viewers and license payers have no right to an opinion and no right to express that opinion. A very troubling concept.
You are right to say that Gaza is not Congo. Neither of these are Kosovo either. You might remember this DEC appeal, broadcast by the BBC two weeks into NATO’s controversial bombing campaign against Serbia and the mass flight and expulsion of Kosovan civilians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuqhlPdRXfc&e
Do you feel that appeal compromised perception of the BBC’s impartiality?
I’m suggesting nothing of the sort and you’ve pulled that out your arse whole cloth (maybe a career in the circus beckons?).
I’ve emailed and complained myself because I think they should have shown it. It’s a ridiculous balls-up by BBC management. But to go from that into another frothing round of back and forth about BBC impartiality only helps the forces I identified above.
So we should criticize BBC ‘constructively’. Sounds like ‘how to banish China correctly’.
No, you should just think on a bit before righteous outrage leads you to taking counter-productive positions on this or that particular incident. Sorry to ask you to hold two thoughts in your head at the one time. Have a cuppa and a lie-down if it hurts too much.
No, I am not troubled by the “double thoughts” at all. I am not the author. But I think you are right only in theory. If we apply your method to every ‘problem’, as it could and should be in theory, there would be no chance of public citicism at all. That’s how this world works. For me, I wish people would hold a second before bashing BBC or China too. As protesting or criciizing China degenerate into an undertaking of ’shaming’ this ‘Country’, it works against its proposed aims. But…
Jews are the best! Hooray.
The problem is not so much that the BBC is spineless (which it is), but that the BBC is now expected to get involved in these aid appeals. Ever since Live Aid the BBC, other broadcasters and the whole entertainment industry have become Bono-ised. The BBC should go back to news and light entertainment. Leave the fundraising to the Jeffrey Archers of this world.
Post a Comment