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Just Journalism Newsletter 4 December 2009

This Week · Analysis of latest BBC News Online coverage of Iran escalations: trends indicate a downplaying of Iran's threatening stance towards Israel   BBC News Online ignores Iran's threats against Israel Last week, Just Journalism observed that BBC News Online coverage of the escalating diplomatic crisis between the West and Iran played down the threatening stance taken by the Islamic state in relation to Israel. 'Iran war games to defend nuclear sites' stated that the 'US and Israel have not ruled out the prospect of a military attack to prevent Iran developing nuclear bombs', but no context was offered for why the US or Israel might decide to take such a course of action. In particular, no reference was made to the repeated threats Iran's president has made towards Israel. This trend continued in reporting on the website this week in 'Nations warn Iran on nuclear sites', which reported on the world's response to Iran's announcement of its intention to build ten more uranium enrichment sites. Again, no mention was made Iran's openly hostile stance towards Israel, whereas the article quoted Israel's ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor calling for 'all options to be on the table', implying Israeli aggression without the necessary context. An analysis of the same day by BBC Middle East correspondent Paul Reynolds continued the trend when he stated that 'Israel is not and will not be convinced that Iran's intentions are peaceful', without providing any further explanation. By way of contrast, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and Financial Times all explicitly mentioned the belligerency of Iran in their coverage of recent developments, with particular emphasis on statements by President Ahmadinejad. For example, the lead editorial in The Times, 'Iran's Adventurism', characterised him as 'a leader who believes in a literal and imminent apocalypse and who gleefully anticipates the extinction of the Jewish state'. In 'What will it take to tame Tehran?', The Daily Telegraph's Con Coughlin noted that 'Israel regards Iran's nuclear quest as an existential threat to the Jewish people equal to that of the Holocaust, which is hardly surprising, given that Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly declared his desire to wipe Israel off the face of the Middle East.' 'China and Russia face pressure on Iran', by the Financial Times' Daniel Dombey and James Blitz, stated that 'Israel views Iran as an existential threat whose rhetoric cannot be ignored.' In view of the core background BBC background article on the Iranian nuclear issue, 'Q&A: Iran and the nuclear issue', which also fails to quote any of the numerous explicit threats made by President Ahmadinejad against Israel, it would seem that the latest coverage by the Corporation is consistent with an overall approach of playing down this crucial element of the story. Click here and here to read more about this on the website.   For more information or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com Just Journalism does not endorse the views and opinions presented in the articles, documentaries and programmes referred to above.