BBC: Fake But Accurate

(Via Michelle Malkin)

In the face of many scandals in the last few years involving major media outlets using false information to run stories popular with people of a certain political persuasion (CBS's Rathergate and The New Republic's Scott Beauchamp debacle come to mind), the BBC is often touted as the ideal news agency. Au contraire:

On Friday, March 7, 2008, the BBC’s World News with Jonathan Charles (seen in the U.S. on PBS stations as part of BBC America) aired footage purporting to show the demolition and burning of a house that belongs to the family of Ala Abu Dheim, the terrorist who murdered eight students and wounded nine others in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva (Rabbinical Seminary) .

Against footage of a bulldozer destroying a burning home, BBC reporter Nick Miles was heard in voiceover proclaiming:

In the hours after the attack, Israeli bulldozers destroyed his [the terrorist’s] family home. Later, his mourners set up Hamas and Islamic Jihad banners nearby.

But the BBC allegation was patently false.

In fact, the film clip selected by BBC staff could not possibly have been of the terrorist’s family home, as it is still standing (as of March 12) and, together with the nearby public mourning tent erected by the family, serves as a shrine dedicated to the "martyred" terrorist. That such a shrine is still allowed to remain in place has, in fact, prompted public outrage among Israelis and members of Knesset across the political spectrum. On Monday, March 10 – three days after the report aired – Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik (Labor) petitioned the Attorney General to order the demolition of the public tent and the terrorist’s family home.

The fact that this deceptive reporting targets Israel is not much of a surprise. Many of the examples of false news reporting, photoshopping, and mythologizing (think Jenin "massacre") are merely instances of media activism against Israel designed to inspire sympathy with Palestinian murderers. The BBC itself has a notorious recent history of anti-Semitism, or at the very least hatred of the state of Israel.

Notice, for example, the headline of this story: "Israelis kill four in West Bank." The article makes it sound like cold-blooded murder, but the "four" are members of the violent Islamic Jihad and were carrying assault rifles. The Israelis were a commando team. The next section describes Islamic Jihad's claim that the Israeli raid undermines any chance of a ceasefire, and the subheading reads, "'Ceasefire undermined.'" This is a ridiculous accusation from an organization dedicated to destroying Israel by any means necessary, especially in light of the constant rocket attacks launched against Israel daily and the repeated violations of negotiated ceasefires by Palestinian groups, but that's what gets the headline. The only background information in the article is the recent violence in Gaza; no mention of the yeshiva students ruthlessly gunned down days ago.