Not getting even half the picture

After months of thorough investigation, an independent British panel has found the BBC “must improve [its] Mid-East view“:

The BBC fails to always give a “full and fair account” of the Israeli Palestinian conflict but is not deliberately biased, a report has said.

The BBC governors asked an independent panel to scrutinise its output.

Its report said the BBC was committed to being fair, accurate and impartial and UK viewers regarded it as unbiased.

But coverage was not consistently full and fair and “in important respects, presents an incomplete and in that sense misleading picture”, it found.… 

Ynetnews, however, notes where the bias really lies:

Overall, the report said, there was stronger evidence of pro-Israel bias compared to pro-Palestinian bias.… 

The Guardian more accurately analyses the report, and concludes that the BBC should be more careful when using the word “terrorist”, “whether perpetrated by state or non-state agencies.”

They are correct, of course. It is inconceivable, however, that the BBC, or most other news services for that matter, would ever call state violence perpetrated by a Western nation – such as the US, Britain, Israel or Australia – “terrorism.” After all, only so-called rogue nations and “terrorists” commit “terror”, right?

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