# Fsck the BBC **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797 "2008-06-13T13:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/21 "2008-06-14T11:32:03Z")
[Balen Report](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Balen_Report), anyone? Much of the BBC’s coverage is stomach-churningly biased when it comes to the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/22 "2008-06-14T11:41:47Z")
News? What’s new about this? Same old same old fighting. Put a news black out on the region for the next few decades and it wouldn’t change anything. Surely there are other news-worthy events taking place in the world that one might wish to learn about that are displaced from the news due to coverage of the endless fighting in the Middle East. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/23 "2008-06-15T08:40:31Z")
Well its obviously a case of self preservation by the BBCs journos. They are unlikely to be murdered or kidnapped by the Israelis but there is a very strong liklihood of the Palestinians doing just that to them so if they can point out that they’ve arse creeped around the Palestinians while demonising the Israelis then they are just that little bit safer. I’ll just make the usual disclaimers,I’m a Brit,I’m not Jewish and as far as I know dont even know any Jews but I’ll support civilised people against murderers any day of the week. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/24 "2008-06-15T10:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=Martha Medea] [Balen Report](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Balen_Report), anyone? Much of the BBC’s coverage is stomach-churningly biased when it comes to the Middle East. [/QUOTE] I don’t understand. You link to an article about a report that’s never been publicly released as if it’s supposed to prove something about bias? ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/25 "2008-06-15T11:51:03Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] I don’t understand. You link to an article about a report that’s never been publicly released as if it’s supposed to prove something about bias? [/QUOTE] Not proof, only the same conclusion as most people would come to when a body that is supposed to be impartial and accountable to its stakeholders (licence-fee payers) conducts an internal report and then takes pains and spends a lot of money to suppress its publication. This kind of suggests that the findings don’t put it in a good light. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/26 "2008-06-15T12:20:08Z")
What conclusion should we draw from the fact that they published an [independently-conducted review](http://www.bbcgovernorsarchive.co.uk/docs/rev_israelipalestinian.html) into the exact same issue, then? I suppose that one doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/27 "2008-06-15T15:57:36Z")
That the internal review’s findings were more damning? If not - what have they got to hide? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/28 "2008-06-15T16:54:50Z")
[QUOTE=Martha Medea] Not proof, only the same conclusion as most people would come to when a body that is supposed to be impartial and accountable to its stakeholders (licence-fee payers) conducts an internal report and then takes pains and spends a lot of money to suppress its publication. This kind of suggests that the findings don’t put it in a good light. [/QUOTE] Or, you know, like the BBC has said - that it would set a precedent that might force them to reveal off-the-record interviews and the like to others under the same FOI legislation. Makes perfect sense to me. But then I’ve never seen a failure to call people “terrorists” rather than “militants” as evidence of institutional antisemitism, like some have. Plus “most people” is not proof of anything. Especially when you have no back-up for that “most”. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/29 "2008-06-15T17:34:09Z")
Me loves the BBC. I watch BBC Americer every evening but wish they would drop the terminal “R” sound after words ending in “a”, like Cuber and Americer. And Top Gear is great. Lots of good documentaries, too. Does BBC America News air in Britain? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/30 "2008-06-15T17:36:52Z")
[QUOTE=Ignatz] Me loves the BBC. I watch BBC Americer every evening but wish they would drop the terminal “R” sound after words ending in “a”, like Cuber and Americer. And Top Gear is great. Lots of good documentaries, too. Does BBC America News air in Britain? [/QUOTE] Uh… no. There they air “BBC News”… ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/31 "2008-06-16T15:32:47Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] What the fuck are you talking about you tit? I know full well that the footage was provided by an “Israeli group”, although what relevance that has is unclear. The footage wasn’t filmed by the suppliers of the cameras, it was filmed by Palestinians (supposedly goat herders), and then returned to the Israeli charity. As I said, who exactly provided the footage, and the true identity of the attackers, was never questioned by the BBC. It’s not like there’s no history of propaganda coming out of the occupied territories. [/QUOTE] I’m talking about the fucking point that no one has questioned the provennace of a film of something that everyone knows goes on on a routinr basis. Therefore anyone wandering along with your pettifogging hand-waving is likely to be iether an idiot or ideologically blind. Or both. I’m going with both. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/32 "2008-06-16T16:24:46Z")
Are you drunk, you fucking dog’s dick? Whether “everyone knows” random beatings happen on a “routine basis” should matter not one whit to a news organization when examining the provenance of a videotape handed to them. (Of course, this begs the question, if “everyone knows” this is happening, what’s newsworthy about the story?) Asking for the BBC to adhere to at least some semblance of journalistic integrity implies nothing about my stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/33 "2008-06-17T11:57:44Z")
[West Bank ‘attackers’ arrested](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7458926.stm) > [@](#): > > Israeli police say they have arrested two Jewish settlers over an apparent assault of Palestinians that was filmed as part of a human rights project. An adult male and a minor were arrested in Susia settlement overnight and will appear in court on Tuesday. Don’t you just hate the fact that reality has a liberal bias? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/34 "2008-06-18T09:18:21Z")
[QUOTE=Ignatz] Me loves the BBC. I watch BBC Americer every evening but wish they would drop the terminal “R” sound after words ending in “a”, like Cuber and Americer. [/QUOTE] I think that the culprit you’re on about is a ME based female journo with a pronounced northern Irish accent,her accent is very harsh and grating even to us people this side of the pond. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/35 "2008-06-18T11:17:12Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] I think that the culprit you’re on about is a ME based female journo with a pronounced northern Irish accent,her accent is very harsh and grating even to us people this side of the pond. [/QUOTE] Is that [Orla Guerin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orla_Guerin) perchance (although she’s from Dublin originally)? I can’t think of any Northern Irish presenters on BBC worldwide news. There’s a minor correspondent for countrywide news in the UK and occasionally Noel Thompson reads the main news, but other than that no women from the province have made it across the water. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/36 "2008-06-18T14:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] Don’t you just hate the fact that reality has a liberal bias? [/QUOTE] 😕 Which side is “liberal” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/37 "2008-06-18T15:05:14Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] 😕 Which side is “liberal” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? [/QUOTE] The Palestinian side. We hate America and love the terrorists, y’see. :dubious: :rolleyes: \* \*Smileys directed at pretty much everyone who has participated in this thread. Including me. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/38 "2008-06-19T09:16:01Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Is that [Orla Guerin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orla_Guerin) perchance (although she’s from Dublin originally)? I can’t think of any Northern Irish presenters on BBC worldwide news. There’s a minor correspondent for countrywide news in the UK and occasionally Noel Thompson reads the main news, but other than that no women from the province have made it across the water. [/QUOTE] Yes your right must have had a brain cell failure. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/39 "2008-06-19T10:58:12Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] Yes your right must have had a brain cell failure. [/QUOTE] I think Dubliners would be equally happy disowning her, she has an odd accent that just doesn’t sound quite right. At least from what I remember of my Dubliner relatives. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797/40 "2008-06-19T11:32:26Z")
The r sound is the “non-rhotic intrusive R” that many Brits (not just English - Glaswegians are notorious for it) insert between two concurrent vowels. “DrawRing” and “AmericaR is”. It doesn’t usually occur if there isn’t a vowel following it though. Unless it’s someone doing a really bad accent on _the Archers_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fsck-the-bbc/452797.md?page=3)