A victory for imparatiality or for Israel

[loki]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7848673.stm

Given that Israel pretty much stopped all foreign journalists entering Gaza, it's pretty much safe to say that they are upto no good.

This is not a political appeal but more of an appeal for the innocent victims caught up in this war.

Personally I think the BBC are wrong for not broadcasting the appeal.

[Garp]

It's a tricky one to work through. I can see both sides of the argument, I don't envy the Beeb on this one.

[Glaucus]

Totally sensible.

It's an advert and totally one sided..

[Will]

And so what if the BBC picks a side? Would it be so wrong to see what the Israelis have contributed to?

[Del Lardo]

I'm amazed at how the media are jumping on this (though I probably shouldn't be). The BBC is meant to be impartial so if they were to broadcast an appeal for victims in Gaza they'd probably be duty bound to broadcast an appeal for victims in Israel while pointing out that other charities for war torn countries are available.

[Will]

You can still have impartial reporting which is telling the truth though ;)

[Glaucus]

[QUOTE=Will;269485]And so what if the BBC picks a side?/QUOTE]

They are meant to be impartial, but they haven't been over the last few years. Unless they stay impartial tv licenses should be scrapped.

[Mark]

And so what if the BBC picks a side? Would it be so wrong to see what the Israelis have contributed to?
No it wouldn't be so bad to see that, and IMO they've shown it, and also shown the rocket attacks on Israel.

AcidHell2 is, however, correct. The BBC's remit mandates that they should be impartial, and they've certainly been a little lacking in that department. If they're finally standing up for what they're supposed to be doing, then good on them.

Haven't seen the appeal so can't comment on the specifics, but given this isn't the first time the BBC have declined a DEC appeal, where were all the complainers the last three times? Nowhere to be seen. Seems like another case of BBC bashing being flavour of the year and everyone jumping on the bandwagon.

[Del Lardo]

I read an interesting article in The Times many hours ago. The basic premise was that the BBC could not broadcast the appeal because of some of the charities involved. The likes of Oxfam and Save the Children are involved which is fine but IIRC there are also two charities that are heavily biased in favour of the Palistinians and as a result the BBC could be seen to favour the Palistinians as a result.

From what I understand (which may be **** all) it's the charities involved that are causing the the problem and not the people/situation,

[Desmo]

But where would this appeal go? Isn't it really just and advert like you get with the NSPCC and RSPCA? The BBC doesn't do ads so not sure why they'd show this anyway.

The BBC are basically damned if they do and damned if they don't on this one.

[Mark]

The BBC have a very, very long tradition (several decades) of showing charity 'ads'...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/charityappeals/programmes/lifeline/

Del Lardo's explanation would seem like a reasonable one.