Just Another Brick in the Wall

Just Another Brick in the Wall

>> MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2010

Anyone who heard BBC radio 4 and BBC World Service news this morning might have been surprised, and perhaps dismayed, to hear the headline, broadcast several times over in ominous tones, that Israel is about to construct a new ‘hi-tech’ wall on its border with Egypt. Someone in the BBC headline department evidently thought it would make an interesting headline. The listener, probably cross at still being stranded atop the Clapham omnibus, might assume this was a continuation of what he likes to think of as the expansionist separation wall. “Apartheid Israel is at it again.” he may think, irritably. Obviously there are walls and barriers to prevent illegal immigration all over the world, but these rarely make headlines. As it happens, even this particular one is nothing new. Not even to the BBC, who reported it at the planning stage in February 2008. At first it seemed that the BBC wasn’t going to flesh out the headline at all, but by mid-morning they did indeed put something on the website,although other, perhaps more impartial, news agencies have been both more forthcoming and more contemporaneous. Al Jazeera for instance, explained in January this year:

“Thousands of African and other migrants have come to Israel through its desert border with Egypt over the last few years, fleeing conflict back home or searching for a better life in Israel. The PM added that while his country would continue to accept refugees from conflict zones, "we cannot let tens of thousands of illegal workers infiltrate into Israel through the southern border and inundate our country with illegal aliens".

also, here:

”But this new fence is ostensibly different to the others. The Israel-Egypt border has become a major transit route for economic migrants, asylum-seekers and drug smugglers, and some estimates suggest that over 1,000 people are crossing the border into Israel every month.”

When I thought they weren’t going to reveal the story at all, I might have written: “on the off-chance that someone’s curiosity had been aroused by the emotive headline, the BBC could have been more expansive” which is another way of saying that if they are going to make suggestive announcements about Israel’s ‘walls’, they must also explain precisely why they’re erecting the wretched things. But now that some context has been provided for anyone who cares tosearch for it, I can still point out that there is one awkward bit of explaining left for them to do Why, when Israel is such a cruel, racist and brutal state, do people go to such lengths to get there? P.S. Who, I wonder, was the genius that scheduled the BBC 1 Panoramaabout Saudi-inspired education in UK faith schools against the C4 Dispatches programme about Islamic terrorism in Islamabad?

IS THE BBC RACIST?

Oh how sweet! From the Irish Independent today...

"The BBC's Newsnight programme has been accused of "racist" stereotyping over a bulletin about Britain's role in the international bail-out for Ireland.

Viewers complained that scenes depicting a cut-out of British Chancellor George Osborne dancing across sepia images of the Irish countryside were offensive. Comments by Mr Osborne about supporting the country through its financial crisis also flashed on the screen in a Celtic font to the sound of traditional Irish music. The report, aired on Thursday night â days before the Government gave in to EU demands to accept a multibillion euro bail-out â ended with a shot outside a shebeen house. Message boards and social networking site were awash with angry comments condemning the coverage as âbad tasteâ and âcondescendingâ. One viewer wrote on Twitter: "What did we think of the Newsnight Oirish shebeeney leprechauny [sic] graphics?... I personally fainted." Another added: Another simplistic Oirish piece on Newsnight. I mean we're screwed and we deserve ridicule but spare me the trad music, jigs & condescension."

Others attacked the current affairs programme after the story was reported on news websites alongside a YouTube clip of the bulletin. One reader railed: Are you joking me? ------ racist pigs! That was very deliberately done and meant to insult! The BBC said it was investigating whether any official complaints had been made about the programme.