BBC bias explained

Degree on Biased BBC explainshttp://biasedbbc.org/blog/2014/11/13/open-thread-58/comment-page-1/#comment-500743a particular case of BBC anti Israel bias, clearly and concisely.

'... a classic case of semantic manipulation, Media Studies 101, if you will.Palestinian 'shot dead by Israeli army' in HebronOut of 466 words only 49, including the headline and the bold type lead paragraph, have anything directly to do with the death. But as any Media student learns that's the way a news article is structured. In the so-called inverted triangle structure the main points of the story , the who, what, when, why and how should be right at the top while less essential elements can be relegated further down.If one was to read the whole story we learn On Monday, an Israeli soldier and an Israeli woman were killed in separate knife attacks but only in the fourth paragraph. Many readers don't reach that far but even if they do the impression is strongly that the story is that a Palestinian was graphically shot dead by Israeli army. It's what they do, isn't it?The way the the two sets of deaths are covered is instructive. Imad Jawabreh is 22 years old – the BBC has given him an identity. The two Israelis are anonymous although the BBC reported on their deaths three days ago and named them Almog Shiloni and Dalia Lamkus. Referring back to the inverted triangle where the further down the information the less essential, Lamkus's name was only mentioned 11 lines down and Shiloni's 18 lines down in a story about their deaths.Perhaps there was some doubt because the BBC covers itself. Lamkus and Shiloni werenamed by Israeli media. Jawabreh was simply named although presumably the BBC acquired his name from the Palestinian media or health authorities.While it is true that the Israeli soldier was in uniform he was not on duty at the time. He was waiting for a train. The woman was waiting for a bus. By contrast the Palestinian was probably engaged in deadly assaults throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at passing vehicles and Israeli soldiers.A report like that would fail any self-respecting journalism class but competent journalism may not have been the result the BBC was looking for.'