Posted by aogTuesday, 21 March 2006 at 21:08 TrackBack Ping URL

It's all wrong but we'll make it up on volume

Backspin has a post about Palestinian gunboys kidnapping various westerners in response to Israel raiding a prison in Jericho from which the PA was going to release prisoners held there by treat with Israel, the USA and the UK. Backspin notes that BBC reporters managed to avoid any such unpleasantness, presuming this to be because of how biased the BBC has been in favor of the Palestinians.

While there is little doubt about the bias of the BCC but there is plenty of evidence that the gunboys have never evidenced such discretion in the past, so why now? I suspect the BBC was just lucky.

The overarching issue here, however, is the fact that most (if not all) Old Media coverage of the area and the situation is influenced by this kind of intimidation. Old Media is therefore faced with the choice of reporting falsehoods or reporting without direct access. One notes that almost without exception, Old Media views reporting falsehoods as more important than limited but accurate reporting. That tells you all you need to know about how dedicated to objectivity and truth modern journalism is.