The BBC is NOT biased.

GuruJane

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Thread starter #1
No way.

Yasser Arafat's unrelenting journey

By Barbara Plett
BBC correspondent, West Bank

The world watches the unfolding drama as the man who has become the symbol for Palestinian nationalism seems to hover between life and death. Though full of uncertainties, Mr Arafat's life has been one of sheer dedication and resilience.

Palestinian police restrain the media outside Mr Arafat's compound

To be honest, the coverage of Yasser Arafat's illness and departure from Palestine was a real grind. I churned out one report after the other, without any sense of drama.

Foreign journalists seemed much more excited about Mr Arafat's fate than anyone in Ramallah.

We hovered around the gate to his compound, swarming around the Palestinian officials who drove by, poking our microphones through their dark, half-open windows.

But where were the people, I wondered, the mass demonstrations of solidarity, the frantic expressions of concern?

Was this another story we Western journalists were getting wrong, bombarding the world with news of what we think is an historic event, while the locals get on with their lives?

Yet when the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry... without warning.

In quieter moments since I have asked myself, why the sudden surge of emotion?

Waves of emotion


The helicopter took Yasser Arafat to Jordan to change aircraft

I suppose there was a pathos about the strong contrast between this and other journeys Yasser Arafat has made.

There was his defiant departure from Lebanon in 1982 after the Israeli army had routed his Palestine Liberation Organisation. He promised then he was on his way to Palestine, and, in a roundabout way, he was.

There was his triumphant return to the Gaza Strip in 1994, when the Oslo Peace Accords appeared to open the window to a Palestinian state. Tens of thousands of people cheered his arrival; they were even hanging from the trees!

Compare that to the few hundred loyalists who came out to watch him leave the West Bank on Friday, waving and calling out one of his favourite sayings: the mountain cannot be shaken by the wind.

But I think this history explains Palestinian emotions better than mine.

In 2002 Israeli troops battered and occupied most of Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah

For me, it was probably the siege.

I remember well when the Israelis re-conquered the West Bank more than two years ago, how they drove their tanks and bulldozers into Mr Arafat's headquarters, trapping him in a few rooms, and throwing a military curtain around Ramallah.

I remember how Palestinians admired his refusal to flee under fire. They told me: "Our leader is sharing our pain, we are all under the same siege."

And so was I.

'Steadfastness'

Maybe that gives me some connection to the man whose presidential compound became a prison.

I know what it is like to stare at the same four walls and find them staring back; to watch tanks swing their turrets outside my window; to scan rooftops for snipers during brief hours of freedom between curfews.

I could understand why Palestinians responded to Mr Arafat then the way they did.


Throughout his years of revolution, peace, and uprising, the Palestinian leader has been an enduring national symbol


Despite his obvious failings - his use of corruption, his ambivalence towards violence, his autocratic way of ruling - no one could accuse him of cowardice.

During those black days in Ramallah, he was a symbol of Palestinian unity, steadfastness, and resistance.

Since then he has languished in the twilight of world indifference to his plight. So I was a bit surprised at how quickly the world sprang to his aid; one of the indications to me that his condition was indeed serious.

Take the Arabs for instance. After essentially ignoring Mr Arafat's captivity, Arab countries sent a team of doctors to keep the Palestinian symbol on life-support, a fitting example of what his people have always criticised about the widely vaunted Arab solidarity with their cause.

The Arabs, they say, are always ready with gestures and fiery rhetoric, but always abandoning them when help is most needed.

They diagnose the disease, say Palestinians, but do nothing to cure it.

And the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, suddenly facilitating Mr Arafat's speedy exit from the country and promising he could return. Before he had always suggested the Palestinian leader would be exiled if he left the West Bank.

We spent one hectic afternoon reporting this about-face, explaining that Mr Sharon was ready now to show humanitarian consideration to the man he has demonised, humiliated and on several occasions, openly wished dead.

Everyone says Yasser Arafat has made too many mistakes, that he has missed too many opportunities. He did and he has, but look also at what he has been up against.

Throughout his years of revolution, peace, and uprising, the Palestinian leader has been an enduring national symbol.

But as he boarded the helicopter with faltering steps, he also stood for something else: for a people exhausted by war, bereft of hope, abandoned by their brothers, and fearful of the future.

Perhaps that is why so few Palestinians saw him off. In him, still, they see themselves.


From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 30 October 2004 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
 

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Contra Mundum

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#3
Jane why don't you amaze us all and post an editorial that is critical of US foreign policy - I suppose the 100 000 civilians killed in Iraq "deserved it" or is the line "it is all propoganda generated by the Islamo- fascists".
 

GuruJane

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Thread starter #4
MightyFighting said:
Is anyone who says anything about the Palestinians' plight immediately biased?

(I'd better not mention refugees.)
This is a prominent BBC correspondant in the Middle East reporting how she cried about Yasser Arafat.
 

Weaver

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#6
GuruJane said:
This is a prominent BBC correspondant in the Middle East reporting how she cried about Yasser Arafat.
Perhaps but it is not reportage, it was not part of the news. It was on From Our Own Correspondant which is more a diary program.

Now you have shown you are vigilent with bias shall we expect to see you holding other media outlets to the same standard?
 

GuruJane

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Thread starter #7
Weaver said:
Perhaps but it is not reportage, it was not part of the news. It was on From Our Own Correspondant which is more a diary program.

Now you have shown you are vigilent with bias shall we expect to see you holding other media outlets to the same standard?
Barbara Plett is a war correspondant. What she reveals is her bias. If the BBC has any claim to obectivity whatsoever it should recall Plett immediately.

I was a full time journalist myself for 22 years from the age of 17, and in those days objectivity and dedicated reporting the facts counted for something. I have no difficulty recognising bias from either side.

With this report Plett has revealaed all her previous reporting on Middle East to be fake.
 

evo

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#8
GuruJane said:
Barbara Plett is a war correspondant. What she reveals is her bias.

With this report Plett has revealaed all her previous reporting on Middle East to be fake.

It doesn't make her reporting fake it makes it biased.Nothing more.As Weaver says,lets hope your are as vigilant on other journalists' bias in future.
 

GuruJane

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Thread starter #10
Freo Big Fella said:
Says she who holds up Bill O'Reilly as an impartial moral compass....
Er ... where did I hold up Bill O'Reilly as an impartial moral compass?

All I said was that I saw O'Reilly taking apart a Saudi Govt rep on the question of democracy.

That is a statement of fact, Freo. Not opinion! Never did I (or would I) say that O'Reilly is an impartial moral compass.
 

MightyFighting

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#11
GuruJane said:
Barbara Plett is a war correspondant. What she reveals is her bias. If the BBC has any claim to obectivity whatsoever it should recall Plett immediately.

I was a full time journalist myself for 22 years from the age of 17, and in those days objectivity and dedicated reporting the facts counted for something. I have no difficulty recognising bias from either side.

With this report Plett has revealaed all her previous reporting on Middle East to be fake.
Everyone has opinions, Jane. That would make everyone biased.
 

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GuruJane

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Thread starter #12
MightyFighting said:
Everyone has opinions, Jane. That would make everyone biased.
Plett has revealed a bias so far towards Arafat that it has instantly rendered ALL her previous and future reporting from the Middle East as tainted.
 

Mr Q

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#13
Even for you that's bollocks Jane. You're obviously one of those who can't tell opinion from fact. I thought you claimed to be a reporter?

Based upon what you say, you can't take any - and I mean any - news story as untainted, as every reporter has opinions, and every media outlet has a position on what it reports.
 

GuruJane

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Thread starter #14
Mr Q said:
Based upon what you say, you can't take any - and I mean any - news story as untainted, as every reporter has opinions, and every media outlet has a position on what it reports.
There is a difference between having opinions and letting those opinions affect your ability to report the news accurately and in an unbiased way and have your readers or audience have confidence in you.

There are plenty of reporters in the ME who have private opinions in support of (mostly) the Palestinians but also Israel but do not let this affect their ability to report the facts.

Plett's public emotional outpouring of love and sympathy towards Arafat has rendered all of her reporting tainted and suspect. Even just the perception is enough, Mr Q to say the BBC should recall her immediately. She wouldn't even get away with this on the Age.
 

MightyFighting

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#15
So suddenly because she has publiclly stated her opinions, she's letting them get in the way of her reportage? Would it be better if she had kept them hidden?

How does stating her opinion make her biased? She in no way claimed it was anything but opinion.
 

GuruJane

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Thread starter #16
MightyFighting said:
So suddenly because she has publiclly stated her opinions, she's letting them get in the way of her reportage? Would it be better if she had kept them hidden?

How does stating her opinion make her biased? She in no way claimed it was anything but opinion.
Oh come on. What if she'd been weeping and wailing publicly about Sharon what would you be saying then?

Of course she shouldn't have been public about it. That's what should tell you she's not a professional. She should have been reporting Arafat's evacuation in an objective way.

The fact that she let it blah out, should tell you how tainted the rest of her reporting has been as she has been obviously viewing all events through this emotional prism.
 

Freo Big Fella

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#17
GuruJane said:
Oh come on. What if she'd been weeping and wailing publicly about Sharon what would you be saying then?

Of course she shouldn't have been public about it. That's what should tell you she's not a professional. She should have been reporting Arafat's evacuation in an objective way.

The fact that she let it blah out, should tell you how tainted the rest of her reporting has been as she has been obviously viewing all events through this emotional prism.

What would objective been to you? Shooting the chopper down?

As far as unprofessional goes, she'd only qualify as unproffessional if she tried to dress up her opinion as fact, which she didn't.
 

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#18
GuruJane said:
Oh come on. What if she'd been weeping and wailing publicly about Sharon what would you be saying then?

Of course she shouldn't have been public about it. That's what should tell you she's not a professional. She should have been reporting Arafat's evacuation in an objective way.

The fact that she let it blah out, should tell you how tainted the rest of her reporting has been as she has been obviously viewing all events through this emotional prism.
Who is to say that as a Middle East Reporter she would not weep if Sharon was to die? I bet many reporters close to the action were upset when Yitzhak Rabin was killed? Should they all be sacked?
 
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Admin #19
GuruJane said:
Plett has revealed a bias so far towards Arafat that it has instantly rendered ALL her previous and future reporting from the Middle East as tainted.
As usual Guru O'Reilly you fail to differntiate between paranoia and reality. So she expressed her views in a column where personel views are meant to be expressed. And it was hardly much at all unless you think say of someone that his "use of corruption, his ambivalence towards violence, his autocratic way of ruling " is praise indeed.

Indeed it's hard to see too much in the piece that Shraon wouldn't agree with.

But ultimately what's important is that this wasn't a news piece, it wasn't pretending to be a news piece, it was an opinion piece.

If you're going to accuse her of bias, don't be so lazy and find a real article.
 

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#20
GuruJane said:
Of course she shouldn't have been public about it. That's what should tell you she's not a professional. She should have been reporting Arafat's evacuation in an objective way.
Have you ever actually *read* a newspaper? Journalists have been putting forth their opinions on things forever, from who to vote for in elections to why person X should be lauded to why person Y should be sacked. Its called an editorial or an opinion piece, and is separate from reporting the facts. The only time its a problem is when journalists try to pass off opinion as fact.

GuruJane said:
The fact that she let it blah out, should tell you how tainted the rest of her reporting has been as she has been obviously viewing all events through this emotional prism.
Why? Have you got any evidence that her reporting has suffered from this? Her ability to report might be affected by her perceptions and emotions, but then again what you've got here is her opinions, not any attempt to describe facts.

Perhaps before quoting what is clearly an opinion piece and stating that one piece means an entire news agency is biased you should go gathering a bit more evidence.
 

funkyfreo

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#21
Re: OBL sings from the Michael Moore hymnbook...

Jane, getting back to my post you ignored. Would you have been calling for the heads of any journalists who wrote an opinion piece expressing regret at Rabin's assassination?
 

GuruJane

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Thread starter #22
Re: OBL sings from the Michael Moore hymnbook...

funkyfreo said:
Jane, getting back to my post you ignored. Would you have been calling for the heads of any journalists who wrote an opinion piece expressing regret at Rabin's assassination?
Plett did not express "regret" about Arafat. She wrote openly about crying.

Rabin was the Israeli minister who instituted the policy of breaking Palestinian children's arms and legs to deter them from throwing stones in the first intifada.

If any journalists wrote about crying for Rabin in the way Plett did, then of course their objectivity would be blown and their past and future reporting tainted.

That's the whole point I have been making.
 

funkyfreo

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#23
Re: OBL sings from the Michael Moore hymnbook...

GuruJane said:
Plett did not express "regret" about Arafat. She wrote openly about crying.

Rabin was the Israeli minister who instituted the policy of breaking Palestinian children's arms and legs to deter them from throwing stones in the first intifada.

If any journalists wrote about crying for Rabin in the way Plett did, then of course their objectivity would be blown and their past and future reporting tainted.

That's the whole point I have been making.
Ahhh ********e I hate it when threads jump around. Are we in totally the wrong thread here:)??
 
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