Posted on 11/06/2004 12:11:19 PM PST by aculeus
A BBC correspondent's on-air admission that she cried at Yasser Arafat's departure from Palestine was a "misjudgment", the corporation said yesterday after it was inundated with complaints.
The BBC, which has long faced accusations of anti-Israeli bias, has received 500 complaints over the broadcast last Saturday by its Middle East correspondent, Barbara Plett, on the Radio 4 programme From Our Own Correspondent.
In the report, Plett described her reaction as the helicopter carrying Arafat - who is in intensive care in a Paris hospital - lifted off from his compound in Ramallah.
"When the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry . . . without warning," she said.
BBC sources said that senior editors had remonstrated with Plett over her words, adding that she too accepted that they had been "misjudged". A BBC spokesman said: "From Our Own Correspondent is one of the few programmes that offers listeners personal stories behind the headlines, a format which permits correspondents to write freely."
However, the fact that a Middle East correspondent has such sympathies will fuel claims that of BBC bias towards the Arabs.
A spokesman for the Israeli government said that it would make an official complaint about the report, although the corporation said it had yet to receive one.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
Oops! Revealed their bias... that's a no-no in "journalism"!
I cried too.
(with joy)
Imagine: crying for an AIDS-ridden, murderous old thief who is surely headed for nether regions. The world is upside down.
I will shed tears of joy when Arafat is dead.
Criticize, the word is criticize.
The Beeb flashes its underwear, and its not pretty.
In Nelson Muntz voice - "Ha ha!"
Always knew the BBC was biased in favor of terrorists. Now I've got proof.
As an aside, I'm going to dance in the streets when Arafat acquires room temperature. I'll also be handing out candy and sweetbreads...just like the Palestinians did on 9/11.
And when it's all over, I'm going to pour a full carafe of my finest coffee on Arafat's grave...right after the stuff passes through my kidneys.
If I remember my history, Arafat was the ONLY person ever allowed to make a speach at the UN with a pistol at his side.
Kofi is deeply saddened.
I cried too -
That such a perverted, vile, pice of sh*t could be revered by the world's smug intelligentsia who looked the other way while his thugs viscously murdered the innocent and destroyed the hopes of generations for freedom and peace.
Those are Palestinians dancing after 9/11. That's horrible!
Sorry but it's "criticise."
The rule I follow (and too many people don't) is to paste the headline without any changes. The article is from a British paper which (surprise!) uses British spelling.
Criticize those who change headlines, not those of us who follow rules.
Bloody
Biased
Crap
Shameless shills - to think the Brits are forced to pay for this outfit (TV licenses).
There will never be truthful reporting from this area. Not only do they have a knee-jerk bias against Israel but look at what happened to the Dutch filmmaker, Theo Van Gogh, who dared to criticize the way many Muslim women are treated.
Yup... and they were passing out candy - So I just suggest we do the same, when their AIDS-riddled, murderous "leader" takes that slippery slide into Fire Lake.
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