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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (97998)	5/12/2003 3:00:13 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

HMS Ark Royal switches off BBC Richard Hargreaves of the News Tuesday April 8, 2003 Military leaders have axed the BBC from the nation's flagship amid claims of pro-Iraqi bias. The navy has switched off rolling news channel News 24 aboard HMS Ark Royal following weeks of grumbling from the crew. Sailors on the Portsmouth-based aircraft carrier currently in the Gulf have become increasingly disenchanted with the BBC's slant on the war. Ark Royal is one of a handful of taskforce ships to receive live TV directly from Britain. Rolling news and two entertainment channels are beamed into the warship as part of the navy's efforts to improve the crew's creature comforts. The sailors appreciate being kept in touch with home and world events but officers and ratings alike have been angered by the BBC's coverage of the war to date. A BBC correspondent has been on board the flagship. The crew has no gripe with his reports but they were particularly incensed by remarks presenters and commentators made about the carrier's Sea King tragedy a fortnight ago, when the BBC suggested poor levels of maintenance played a hand in the deaths of seven troops. Sailors also believe the BBC places more faith in Iraqi reports than information coming from British or coalition sources. "The BBC always takes the Iraqis' side," one senior rating complained. "It reports what they say as gospel but when it comes to us it questions and doubts everything the British and Americans are reporting. A lot of people on board are very unhappy." Ark Royal switched off News 24 on Sunday, replacing it with rival Sky News. media.guardian.co.uk

To: JohnM who wrote (97998)	5/12/2003 3:21:02 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

CNN would not know a genuine leftie if she/he bit them. Of course not, genuine lefties are toothless. 0: I disagree with your characterization of the BBC's coverage. It was biased, as was CNN's, as was Fox's....so what's new? The debate is old and tiresome. You play into your bias as we do, too. Please don't try to suggest that the most objective coverage was on the part of your favorites. None of us have recently taken a fall off a tomato truck. The closest thing to journalistic objectivity I've seen is The Economist. It probably plays into my unconscious biases, too, though being a weekly it has the benefit of hindsight.