I Don’t Get It
There is a big flap in the UK over the BBC decision not to carry a fund raiser for Gaza relief: Gaza decision up to BBC. The BBC hierarchy is saying that carrying the “telethon” that involves major charity organizations would demonstrate bias on the part of the BBC.
The BBC is a media network, just like the US media networks, except that it is funded by licensing fees on the users. They have separate divisions, just like the US networks, and I don’t see how running a charity event during prime time will affect the ability of the news division to do its job. They have aired political satires that would never see the light of day in the US, but no one questioned their impartiality. If they feel they must, they could run disclaimers, as often happens in the US media.
If the BBC only allowed Israelis to be interviewed by Jeremy Paxman, then a case might be made for bias, but this is not the case. I feel certain that if Israel had been subjected to three weeks of bombardment with no ability to respond, these same charities would schedule a fund raiser for them. The reality is that it was Gaza that was blasted, and Gaza is the area that needs the help.
2 comments
Dear Media on the Fence,
We are discussiong this issue on ‘World Have Your say’, a radio program on the BBC World Service. We’d very much like to speak to somebody from your blog. Could you please drop me an email at elizabeth.ryder@bbc.co.uk.
E-mail sent, but I don’t know what I can add beyond what I’ve written here.