StatCounter

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Compare and contrast the BBC coverage

Israel retaliates against Hamas after years of rocket attacks and the BBC (and most other news agencies) give wall to wall coverage and "analysis". Meanwhile in an article hidden away on the African news page with a link on the News front page in the "AROUND THE WORLD" round-up section appears this news:
"More than 400 people have been killed by Ugandan rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in attacks since Christmas day, aid agency Caritas says.

The head of Caritas in DR Congo told the BBC some 20,000 people had fled to the mountains from the rebels, who have denied carrying out the attacks.

An eyewitness told the BBC that five people in Faradje had their lips cut off by Lord's Resistance Army fighters.

They were told that it was a warning not to speak ill of the rebels."


So why the disparity in coverage?
Are Congolese lives worth less than Palestinian lives?
Are black lives worth less that white lives?
Are the Ugandan rebels less evil than the Israelis?
Or is just that the BBC hatred for Israel removes all sense of proportion from their news coverage?




Here's some more of the news coverage that the BBC deem less important than that of Israel's actions in Gaza (my emphasis): "
"The victims had been hacked to death and forced into fires, he said.

"All villages were burned by rebels... we don't know where exactly the population is because all the villages are empty," he told the BBC.

"We have almost 6,500 displaced who are refugees in the parishes of the Catholic Church around the city of Dungu, more than 20,000 people displaced are running to the mountains," he said.

Those who were hiding in the bush and forest were mainly the young, as the LRA tends to kidnap children and recruit them as fighters, he said.

An eyewitness in Faradje said the people who had their lips cut off were being treated for their injuries.

...

Many thousands of Congolese villagers fled their homes after LRA attacks near Dungu in October.

Countries from Uganda to the Central African Republic have suffered 20 years of terror inflicted by the LRA.

Tens of thousands of children have been abducted to be fighters and sex slaves.

Uganda's government said the joint offensive had destroyed some 70% of the LRA camps in DR Congo."

No comments: