643

Why BBC doesn't call Hamas militants 'terrorists' - John Simpson (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Nighed@sffa.community to c/world@lemmy.world

164 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I guess not strictly news - but with all of the vitriol I have seen in discussions on the Israel situation, that have boiled down to arguments over wording, I feel that this take from the BBC is worthy of some discussion.

Mods, feel free to remove if this is not newsy enough.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] alquicksilver@lemmy.world 177 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's simply not the BBC's job to tell people who to support and who to condemn - who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.

I miss when this was the standard for news. Now most (e: major) outlets don't even try to pretend they have no bias and instead push a subjective point. Even when I agree with the point, I don't like it when my "news" pushes it instead of just, you know, reporting.

Give me the info and let me form my own opinions.

[-] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 46 points 1 year ago

The news in Australia literally adds dramatic music to their edits. They're disgraceful, and manipulative.

load more comments (4 replies)

[-] Nighed@sffa.community 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

While us Brits love to complain about the BBC being biased (probably an actual issue for internal UK politics) its good to remember that it's still a world leading media outlet, and one of very few that can be considered not to be push an agenda. (I imagine I can find a lot of people that can probably disagree with that too....)

Even Routers has started editorialising, and I thought they were just meant to be raw facts!

[-] drekly@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Regardless of their wording, BBC news has a super Israel bias, and they even got called out on live TV during the news for it. They are not the place for unbiased reporting of this specific issue. The UK will always pretend Israel can do no wrong because they created them.

[-] Hyperreality@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

BBC news has a super Israel bias, .... The UK will always pretend Israel can do no wrong because they created them.

I went on the BBC's news site just now and looked at the top stories from the middle-east.

Here's a BBC article which suggests that Egypt warned Israel days before Hamas struck, despite Netenyahu denying it:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67082047

Here's an article which features the video diary of a (crying) Palestinian girl. "Gaza: Children screamed in the street"

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67077224

Here's another video. Title: "Gaza: 'I wish I could be a normal child living with no war'"

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-67058592

Does the BBC have a 'super Israel bias'?

Or are you biased which makes you mistakenly think the BBC is 'super' biased in favour of Israel and claim the UK 'will always pretend Israel can do no wrong'?

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments (22 replies)

[-] Maven@lemmy.sdf.org 94 points 1 year ago

The same thing's happening in Canada with the CBC; bunch of people calling them out for not saying "terrorist" implying it means they're in favour of the attacks, when CBC simply has a policy of not saying that about anyone, because it's not their job.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 43 points 1 year ago

This is why we need CBC and can't let the Conservative Party of Canada destroy them.

[-] Wilibus@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

I generally don't like the CBC, but I personally find their international political reporting top tier due to this kind of approach.

load more comments (12 replies)

[-] plz1@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago

It’s so refreshing to see real journalistic integrity once in a while. Thanks for sharing.

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

This is hardcore and I respect the shit out of it

load more comments (4 replies)

[-] TheBlue22 28 points 1 year ago

I don't think you need to call hamas what they are, a far right fundamentalist extremist terrorist organisation. Their actions speak for themselves.

[-] LemmyRefugee@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

What they mean as that they could also say Israel is a terrorist state. That’s what some people think. And some people, specially those who have friends or family who have been killed in Palestina, might say that Hamas are defending their people and are not terrorists.
But you and me, citizens without voice, can call them terrorists (that’s what they are) but doing so we are somehow chosing a band in a conflict.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Steve@startrek.website 24 points 1 year ago

Based

[-] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago

John Simpson is a legend. His book, A Mad World, My Masters, is exceptional reading.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] redhydride@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

Commendable to resist such pressure and remain as objective as possible

load more comments

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023

643 points (100.0% liked)

World News

39082 readers

3238 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.