Finally, BBC Admits to “Shoddy Journalism”
November 11, 2012 13:28 by Simon PloskerThe following opinion piece by HR Managing Editor Simon Plosker is republished from the Times of Israel.
Just imagine the scenario: A flagship BBC news program investigates an alleged Israeli “war crime” and levels the accusation based solely on the uncorroborated evidence of unnamed Palestinian “eyewitnesses”.
A week later, the truth comes out – the bullets that killed the Palestinian children in the incident were fired by Palestinian gunmen during a shootout between rival Islamist gangs.
The BBC’s director-general, George Entwistle admits that there have been “unacceptable journalistic standards” and stands down from his position saying it was “the honorable thing to do”.
Standing next to him, the BBC Trust’s chairman, Lord Patten says: “George has very honorably offered us his resignation because of the unacceptable mistakes — the unacceptable shoddy journalism — which has caused us so much controversy.”
You can’t imagine it? Not surprising considering the number of times that the BBC has tried to explain away shoddy journalism when it comes to reporting from Israel.
And when the BBC has got it wrong? Do heads roll? Not a chance. Part of the above scenario is real however. The BBC’s director-general has resigned over an issue of shoddy journalism after BBC Newsnight implicated a former prominent politician as a pedophile and child molester based on the say so of one source who ultimately turned out to have been mistaken.
Granted, this scandal at the BBC is the culmination of a terrible few weeks for the organization as one of their top icons, children’s TV presenter and DJ Sir Jimmy Savile, now deceased, was exposed as one of Britain’s most prolific pedophiles and sex offenders by a rival news organization. This, after the BBC’s flagship Newsnight had dropped an identical investigation for reasons that are currently subject to an external inquiry.
Reacting to the Savile revelations, a UK government minister called for fundamental transparency reforms at the BBC, stating: “I think there is a problem at the heart of the BBC, is the organization is too secretive. I think it should think now of opening itself up to freedom of information requests.”
Indeed, when it comes to a lack of transparency, the Balen Report instantly springs to mind. In 2004 the BBC commissioned Malcolm Balen, a senior editorial adviser, to investigate allegations that the BBC’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was biased. The report, widely suspected to confirm those allegations, was never publicly released and the BBC spent over £330,000 fighting a freedom of information (FOI) request to reveal its findings.
HonestReporting tested whether or not the BBC was now more receptive to FOI requests in the aftermath of calls for transparency. We asked a relatively simple question: “What is the breakdown of expenses incurred by the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau on outsourcing and independent contractors and stringers, both Israeli and Palestinian?”
Any answer may have given us some idea as to whether the BBC is disproportionately reliant on Palestinian sources to aid its news gathering operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
After a few weeks, this was the BBC’s response:
This article is continued on Page 2
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Finally, BBC Admits to “Shoddy Journalism” | Blogs about Israel aggregation
1:43 pm
Nov 11, 2012
[...] This article is continued on Page 2 Original article can be viewed at Finally, BBC Admits to “Shoddy Journalism” on HonestReporting. [...]
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Empress Trudy
3:55 pm
Nov 11, 2012
Oh pish posh. No doubt they’ll blame it on Zionist control of all media, banks and governments. They always do.
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William Thompson
5:16 pm
Nov 11, 2012
It should be called “Lying Journalism” instead.
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Teddy Bear
5:32 pm
Nov 11, 2012
There is an online petition to get the BBC to make the Balen Report public.
Please sign and tell your friends
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-bbc-release-the-balen-report-to-the-public
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martin
6:13 pm
Nov 11, 2012
May I suggest that ths petition be sent to all whom you know
Patten has already signified his dislike of Israel by his previuos statements, as has Hague and Cameron, along with most of the LibDems and Labour in the UK.
I am a member of UKIP and read the latest posts of people being mominated. One had the audacity to compaer I srael with Iran. I pointed out some facts to the person concerned by way of the editor and hopefully it will be printed. I included the bias of the publicly funded BBC towards Israel and the corruption of its service as well as the equally corruptcommunist headed EU. This is the 18th year when accountants have refused to sign off the accounts.
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Lynette
6:19 pm
Nov 11, 2012
After one year of corespondence and the help of only five other individual complainents the BBC Governors did admit that an anti- Israel documentary “The Road to Armageddon” in 2003 was editorally flawed.and would not be repeated . The point I want to make is that it was individuals who would not give up and be put off by the BBC’s stalling tactics that achieved this.
It is important for individuals to continue to write and email complaints. It only takes good people to do nothing for evil to triumph.
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harry jacobi
10:15 pm
Nov 14, 2012
shame on the BBC for their stalling tactics to remove their bias against tiny democratic Israel..
Also I’ll never forget how UK’s government was involved in dirty tricks to get oil contracts from the Lybians by releasing a convicted terrorist for “humanitarian” reason after he downed the PanAm plane w/ 248 aboard over Lockebee. Oil money talks.
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Rockets Rain on Israel | Blogs about Israel aggregation
8:28 pm
Nov 11, 2012
[...] See HonestReporting’s response: Finally, BBC Admits to “Shoddy Journalism” [...]
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Andrew Bush
8:41 pm
Nov 11, 2012
The way the BBC has dealt with the state of Israel is now coming back to bite them. The Lord is biting back HARD
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Stephen
9:46 pm
Nov 11, 2012
For years the BBC has been producing Opinion masquerading as News and or Journalism. Now that they have been caught out with just one massive lie amongst the plethora that they publish on a regular basis, how are we expected to believe the unprofessional claptrap that they feed us with daily, or when no Palestinians are injured, they totally ignore, for instance, the dozens of rockets falling in Israel every month fired from civilian areas in Gaza.
Time and time again the inherent anti-Jewish reporting of the BBC’s so called “liberal journalists” is left unquestioned by the management but now the big lie is exposed, it must be getting clearer that the BBC as a News source cannot be trusted.
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Teddy Bear
12:43 am
Nov 12, 2012
In today’s article, naturally featuring only after Israel responds, and not updated since the morning to avoid telling just how many rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel, the opening paragraph states as a fact about how many Palestinians were killed or injured. Also that a 13 year old boy was killed on Thursday.
Yet whenever it writes about what has happened to Israel it is qualified by ‘Israel says’, to indicate that this is only claimed.
Palestinian losses FACT – Israel losses MAYBE TRUE.
Not to mention the photos used in the article shows clearly the BBC agenda.
It is not ‘SHODDY journalism, it is one with agenda.
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Barbossa
2:15 am
Nov 12, 2012
Boo hissy!!! He needs to step down for shoddy reporting on Israel. When the ship starts sinking the rats start swiming.
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Endlich gibt die BBC “schlampigen Journalismus” zu « Medien BackSpin
12:15 pm
Nov 12, 2012
[...] Simon Plosker, HonestReporting.com, 11. November 2012 (original veröffentlicht bei Times of Israel) [...]
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Christopher Proudlove
5:59 pm
Nov 12, 2012
European Coalition for Israel founder and director Tomas Sandell is on record as saying that the current BBC chairman, Lord Christopher Patten, a Roman Catholic, was a bugbear to him when serving as a UK Conservative European Union Commissioner. Now there are calls from British MPs for this pro-Palestinian to resign over his handling of the Entwhistle affair.
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martin
1:20 pm
Nov 13, 2012
three days of a 300 rocket salvo from gaza into southern israel.
international news media of this war crime is either not reported, or on a low key, or is equal to israel “treatment” of the fakestinians. what is barak’s response? yet another threay – yaaaawn.
no wonder the arabs have no fear of israel and continue their acts of war, knowing they can and do get away with it.
yes patty of the beeb is well known, like so many in his kind of position in the establishment to be a jew hater. his hasty retreat from hong kong showed him to be another high ranking, highly paid failure.
i trust any commemeration of “kristalnacht” will be devoid of any leftwing haters of israel?
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Rockets Rain on Israel | The Conservative Papers
2:00 am
Nov 15, 2012
[...] See HonestReporting’s response: Finally, BBC Admits to “Shoddy Journalism” [...]
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Finally, BBC Admits to “Shoddy Journalism” | The Conservative Papers
3:16 am
Nov 15, 2012
[...] November 11, 2012 13:28 by Simon Plosker [...]
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Brent Pudsey
4:47 am
Nov 15, 2012
It is terrible that the BBC takes such a view as it destroys their credability and brings their biogtry to light. Britain’s lack of support for Israel through their media will have consequences.
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martin
12:52 pm
Nov 15, 2012
Well the long anticipated response to Hamas’ firing of missiles into Israel has began.. Sadly, 3 Israelis have been killed by rockets.
We now witness the expected response by the BBC to this long overdue response by Israel and view the usual anti Israel reports. No mention of low long and how many rockets have been fired fron 2001 to the present day.
The female Lt Col, spoke with passion and conviction, unlike her male compatriots. I believe his name is Gavin Estler (?) interviewed a top ranking Israeli and asked him if he will apologise for killing children in Gaza. What absolute Khutspah.
Israeli need to be far more aggressive in replying to these Jew hating bastards.
EG What are foreign troops doing thousands of miles aways in Afghanistan killing and being killed? Israel idefends her people.instead.
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martin
12:59 pm
Nov 15, 2012
I noticed on Israel National News or Arutz7 an interesting article about the BBC and HMFO during the second world war.
The BBC prides itself on having helped the politica/military establishment during that time. This article mention a report byCarlyle Marcatney a ~Foreign Office top advisor. He sent a memo to the BBC Hungarian Service in 1942 in which it clearly stated ” “we shouldn’t mention the Jews at all.” It was known tha the BBC could have given coded warnings to the Jews in Hungary and decidsed not to, because the Hungarians were so consumed hatred for Jews and did not want them to hinder the war effort.
In 1942, the BBC and govt were fully aware of what was happening to the Jews!
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Brian Richard Allen
6:51 pm
Nov 15, 2012
Not exaggeration, insult nor overwrought to suggest one must look to the Goebbels’ School and to the likes of Pravda to find the moral and intellectual equivalent to the BBC.
Banch of Bustards!
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