BBC admits potential bias in war reporting

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=24&art_id=vn20030328050916573C993479&set_id=1 ^

[RockSolid]

BBC admits potential bias in war reporting

March 28 2003 at 05:09AM

By Ian Burrell

London - The head of news at the BBC on Wednesday admitted difficulties in accurately reporting the war, as one of his senior correspondents accused corporation colleagues of distorting the truth.

Richard Sambrook, the BBC's director of news, went before the cameras after widespread inaccurate reports of events in the war zone by the print and electronic media.

"Nobody, including the media, has the full picture of what's going on," he said.

[Destro]

FOXnews and their SKYnews-The worst reporting of the war in English by far.

Gee Torie we agree!! Where was this sceptecisim of yours when it came to innacurate reporting against the Serbs during the Bosnian/Kosovo campagins?

[Torie]

The Kosovo coverage was quite accurate. You just didn't like what was going on. I did, and still do. By the way, do you think Slobo murdered is former mentor? Will the Russians return his sicko wife back to Serbia to answer questions?

[Cicero]

I don't think their statement admits a damned thing. It's typical liberal hogwash and denial.

All they say is that nobody can see the full picture and that the situation is "complicated," a favorite liberal weasel word for explaining why they are telling lies.

What they don't in the least address is bias or political slanting of the news. The BBC is well known for being antisemitic, anti-American, and pro-Arab. It's as simple as that, and this statement never touches on any of these issues.

[San Jacinto]

After reading the quotes in the article, I see that they don't really admit anything beyond covering the war is "difficult" or "complicated".

They don't seem to acknowledge that it is a problem for a news organization to report (via headlines, at least) the exact opposite of the true story.[i.e., "Coalition makes small gains through larege sacrifices."]

[Destro]

That is why you are a fool, Torie. The news is always wrong always biased and you only see that when the news reporting suits your world view.

The Kosovo war reporting was so bad and so biased a book was written about it. I suggest you read it, Torie-it's on sale.

The First Casualty: The War Correspondent As Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea to Kosovo by Phillip Knightley

As for Slobo; one, I dont care and two, I am for the UN releasing Slobo and letting him be tried in his own country and not in a UN court-never at a UN court!

[FreeReign]

It's not about only having half a picture, it's about distorting the one you've got.

They attempt to correct their distorted reporting by -- distorting their correction. What a bunch of statist sapped sad sacks!

[Torie]

Maybe you should write a book review. Only one Amazonian "reviewed" it, and it had no specifics. I am sure you can do better. By the way, Stratfor's "analysis" of the Kosovo campaign was almost invariably wrong. Now, I don't trust anything it writes about anything. They shot their wad with me.

[BartMan1]

I for one am gobsmacked that this screed is being treated as some sort of confession of error by the sots.....

The beeb is still in denial mode....

[Anticommie]

London - The head of news at the BBC on Wednesday admitted difficulties in accurately reporting the war?

They cought Clinton syndrom, cant't tell a truth anymore.
Hey BBC do you know what a meaning of 'IS' is ?

[Destro]

Two more reviews of Phillip Knightley's harcover edition can be found here

By the way, the newest edition I first linked you to above has an Amazon.com Sales Rank of 6,936. Not bad, eh?

[observer5]

BBC is a joke!!!

These ancor women are pathetic, except the Hussein lady. She is somewhat professional.

[RadojeS]

Right, the news media all got together and decided to be completely fair and honest just during the Bosnia/Kosovo coverage... I don't think so.

[Amerigomag]

"Nobody, including the media, has the full picture of what's going on,"

I think they do. I think they're cooperating with the military for the sake of their national security.

With full knowledge of "what's goin on" they are using the small, publically available, "slice of the pie" to spin the story and promote their agenda.

Shame on them.

[Torie]

Well, I followed the coverage rather closely. I did not sense that. It certainly was not as biased and ham handed in many ways as the coverage of this war. Maybe the embeded reporters will prove their worth. So far they have been a distraction that have tended to degrade the accuracy of the coverage because media central think they have some insight when they report rumors, when in fact they are just passing the rumors on.

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you. I hate excerpted posts unless they absolutely necessary. This is a keeper. It's the press admitting something they almost never admit. I do not want to lose it.

[Carry_Okie]

It's a little ironic to post a story about potential bias while committing flagrant bias in the process.

Now come on counselor, you should know better than this. That's not "potential bias," it's "intentional bias." They're not the same. One is 'getting lucky,' the other is 'as specified' pursuant to editorial license.

Sheesh! ;-)

[Dog Gone]

The only articles, I think, that should be excerpted are those from the Washington Post and LA Times (or their direct affiliates). Occasionally, a source will be too long to post in its entirety, and some of the MSNBC posts are a HTML mess.

But in almost all other circumstances, the entire article should be posted here. Our archives don't change.

[Darksheare]

Pink Floyd playing anything from "ANIMALS" nearby?

[tubebender]

Just today I had a liberal tell me he prefers Jim Lehrer on pBS because they rely on the BBC for coverage...

[Calamari]

JSOWs over the Republican Guard.