HonestReporting member Mike S. is fast becoming the monitoring expert of BBC.
You will recall earlier this month that Mike caught BBC publishing an anti-Israel photo caption that was unrelated to the article. BBC subsequently expressed regret and changed the caption.
This time, Mike has caught BBC altering the “quoted” words of White House press secretary Ari Fleisher. In referring to a recent Palestinian homicide bombing, Fleisher said, according to the Official White House transcript:
“The administration, the President condemns the most recent attack in Israel. It’s another reminder of how it’s so important for peace to be pursued and for terror to be stopped.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021021-6.html
BBC, however, changed the word “terror” to the generic term “violence.” BBC mis-quoted Fleisher as saying: “The administration condemns the most recent attack in Israel. Peace must be pursued and the violence must be stopped.”
Due to Mike’s diligence (he had to write twice to complain), BBC replied as follows: “We have looked at your comment carefully and have made the necessary alteration.”
See the corrected article at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2347155.stm
Comments to:
[email protected]
HonestReporting commends Mike for following the 4 cardinal rules of media activism:
1) Concise. Mike’s complaint was brief and to the point, and focused on one specific and quantifiable error, rather than vague generalities that are easily dismissible.
2) Factual. Mike’s complaint was backed up by facts, and he cited the source for his information (in this case, the White House website).
3) Polite. Mike’s complaint was stated respectfully, without name-calling or accusations of anti-Semitism.
4) Diligent. When Mike didn’t get satisfaction the first time, he wrote to complain again, restating his complaint and again requesting a reply.
Great job, Mike. And thanks for inspiring thousands of other HonestReporting members to get similar results in monitoring their local media.
===== Hizbullah TV =====
Read a great commentary in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (also published in the LA Times and others) about American businesses advertising on Hizbullah’s Al-Manar TV station (“U.S. Corporations Support Hizbullah Hate”). The Lebanese subsidiaries of companies like Pepsi, Western Union, and Proctor and Gamble are subsidizing Al Manar’s programming which glorifies suicide bombings and other acts of terror.
http://accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/1002/16special_jorisch.html
The Jerusalem Post writes: “The fact that they only advertise on Al-Manar’s local television outlet in Lebanon, not on Al-Manar’s satellite station, suggests they know they are doing wrong and want to keep their commercial links to terrorists away from the prying eyes of international viewers.”
===== BIASED DOCUMENTARY =====
Last week, KTEH, the public broadcasting station in the San Francisco Bay Area, broadcast a film, “Frontiers of Dreams and Fears.” The film focuses on two teenage girls — one living near Bethlehem, the other in the Shatila camp in Lebanon — who become pen pals, and eventually meet at the Israeli-Lebanon border.
One of the girls, Manar, goes with her grandfather to their former village outside Jerusalem. There Manar’s grandfather finds the ruins of their home, allegedly destroyed by the Israeli Army in 1948. Manar dreams of being able to return some day.
In Shatila, the children remember the names of their “former villages in Palestine.” Each child tells the name of their village, locates it on old maps, then makes a key with the name of the village. “The keys offer hope that someday these children might have a home of their own,” says the film’s webpage.
The film ends with scenes of a Palestinian rally in Washington DC, showing anti-Israel banners.
It’s Palestinian propaganda from start to finish, “making the plight of the Palestinian people palpably clear,” in the words of the film’s webpage.
Mai Masri, the film’s director/producer is a Palestinian-American whose previous credits include (not surprisingly): “Children Of Shatila,” and “Hanan Ashrawi: A Woman of Her Time.”
KTEH is partially funded by City of San Jose Arts Commission.
Comments to:
[email protected]
See the film’s website at:
http://www.itvs.org/frontiers/
Comments to:
[email protected]
===== CAMPUS ACTIVISM =====
Get ready to take back the campuses! Join HASBARA FELLOWSHIPS, the premier Israel activism program for college students. Learn about the history and politics of Israel and the Middle East. Become an effective pro-Israel activist on campus. It’s all happening December 22 – January 5 in Jerusalem. Scholarships are available. For more info: http://www.israelactivism.com/israelprograms.asp
===== JOURNALISTS ATTACKED =====
Previous HonestReporting communiques mentioned how journalists have been attacked by Palestinians (most recently at the Abayat funeral). Recently, Israelis at an outpost settlement attacked members of the media who were covering their impending eviction. “We strongly condemn these actions,” said a spokesman of the Council of Jewish Communities.
