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Monday 3 August 2009

The BBC a difference in coverage

The BBC are reporting widely the shooting of three people at a gay community centre in Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister has condemned the murders and Israel is the most gay friendly country in the Middle East. Meanwhile hidden away in its South Asia pages is the story of eight Christians killed by a Muslim mob who believed (incorrectly) that the Christians had defaced a Koran, six of the Christians (four women, a man and a child) died as the Muslims militants set fire to Christian houses in the town of Gojra.

SO why the disparity in the levels of coverage? Normally the BBC explain the relatively large amount of coverage of Indian and especially Pakistani news by the number of people with sub-continental roots. However in this case the coverage has been paltry. However, as we all know, the BBC do like to cover in detail any news that reflects badly on Israel despite the links between the UK and Israel and Palestine being somewhat weaker.

There is a BBC narrative to be spread and it is not one that will ever reflect well on Israel. As I said Israel is the only gay friendly country in the Middle East and yet this story includes tis "Gay rights activist Mike Hamel criticised religiously-driven hatred of homosexuals." Oddly I do not remember the BBC giving anywhere near as much prominence to the regular state sanctioned hangings in Iran of homosexuals.

To the BBC a one-off killing by a lone gunman in Jewish Israel is a far more serious matter than the state sanctioned hanging of homosexuals in Muslim Iran or the murder of Christians in Islamic Pakistan; why?

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