Comment: Gaza appeal was quiet, factual and effective

[DogPoundPup]

This was not a time for Geldofian threats, to give or else. Quiet, factual, unhistrionic — last night’s Disasters Emergency Committee’s appeal was all the more effective for those qualities. Images of suffering were matched to scripted assertion and then backed up by statistics.

Sixty per cent of Gaza was living in poverty: 300,000 were without access to running water; 40 per cent were without electricity. There was less editorialising than the most objective BBC correspondent’s dispatch. “Several hundred have been killed,” said the voiceover. Note the passive voice. “Today this is not about the rights and wrongs of the conflict.” Israel was not mentioned.

read more...http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article5594429.ece

[Idealism]

1. Way to cave in Beeb, you used to stand for something

[azurnoir]

2. The BBC is now in association with Sky News?

what next Faux?

[LeftishBrit]

3. Here's a link to the latest on this

Interestingly, this report, which is on the BBC site, includes a link and phone number for the appeal - which supports my suspicion that there's infighting within the BBC on this subject.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7846150.stm


Those who object to the BBC's decision can send messages on the Avaaz site - which also includes campaigns and petitions on many subjects.

www.avaaz.org


As everyone here knows, I'm as far from a Hamas supporter as you can get, but I am strongly against this interference with a humanitarian aid appeal.

[Scurrilous]

4. TV appeal for Gaza raises £1m despite BBC and Sky refusal

Charities say donations still flooding in as BBC faces lawsuit over decision not to broadcast video

<snip>

"Donations to an emergency fund for Gaza have doubled despite the refusal of the BBC and Sky News to broadcast an appeal that was shown on three other channels last night.

The number of complaints to the BBC also rose overnight and now stands at more than 21,000, with just 380 writing in support of the corporation's stance. At the same time, a parliamentary motion criticising the BBC's decision has grown in popularity and has attracted the signatures of MPs from all parties.

The BBC is also being threatened with a lawsuit alleging its decision to ban the charity appeal for Gaza from its airwaves was discriminatory, the Guardian has learned. The case is being brought on behalf of 42 people who say they were offended by the corporation's decision.

They will argue that the ban discriminated against the Palestinian people because the BBC refused to allow a charity appeal for them to be broadcast, but did allow appeals for other ethnic or national groups, such as those affected by the conflicts that plagued Darfur and Kosovo. Solicitor Lawrence Davies said: "The decision not to broadcast it is tainted by racism, it is anti-Palestinian."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/27/gaza-appeal-funds-bbc-sky

[BunkerHill24]

5. Check out this article from 2005 to unravel the reason for BBC Director

Mark Thompson's decision of not allowing Gaza Charity Appeal.

-----------------------------------

BBC chief holds peace talks in Jerusalem with Ariel Sharon

By Guy Adams
Tuesday, 29 November 2005


The BBC is often accused of an anti-Israeli bias in its coverage of the Middle East, and recently censured reporter Barbara Plett for saying she "started to cry" when Yasser Arafat left Palestine shortly before his death.

Fascinating, then, to learn that its director general, Mark Thompson, has recently returned from Jerusalem, where he held a face-to-face meeting with the hardine Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Although the diplomatic visit was not publicised on these shores, it has been seized upon in Israel as evidence that Thompson, who took office in 2004, intends to build bridges with the country's political class.

Sources at the Beeb also suspect that it heralds a "softening" to the corporation's unofficial editorial line on the Middle East.

"This was the first visit of its kind by any serving director general, so it's clearly a significant development," I'm told.

"Not many people know this, but Mark is actually a deeply religious man. He's a Catholic, but his wife is Jewish, and he has a far greater regard for the Israeli cause than some of his predecessors."

Understandably, an official BBC spokesman was anxious to downplay talk of an exclusively pro-Israeli charm offensive.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pandora/bbc-chief-holds-peace-talks-in-jerusalem-with-ariel-sharon-517400.html