BY JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 3:43 p.m. EDT
What the BBC Concealed
"About 1,500 people have taken part in a rally against terrorism in Glasgow, organised by mosques and Islamic groups," the BBC reported on Saturday:
The "Scotland United Against Terror" event was held in George Square. . . .
Osama Saeed, one of the organisers, said: "We've been staggered by the messages of support we've been getting this week from the four corners of the globe.
"We thought on a local level we'd get together and do this to allow the grassroots to display their anger at the attacks, little realising nothing like this had ever been done before anywhere else before.
"The eyes of the world will be on a Scotland sending out the message that all our communities are united against terrorism.
"The Muslim community have called this event, but what's touching is how the rest of the country has responded to us."
Accompanying the BBC story is a photo of 9-year-old Mohamed Souidi holding up a sign printed by the Muslim Council of Scotland reading "No to terrorism." There's also a slide show of nine other pictures, including two other MCS signs: "One Scotland, one message, no to terror!" and "Terrorism has no religion." All very anodyne, if ambiguous (that last message in particular strikes us as an evasion of both reality and responsibility).
But the BBC's account is misleading. Blogress "oldpunkette" has photos from the same rally, and they show preprinted signs making excuses for terrorism ("To end the bombings, bring the troops home"; "Troops out: Don't attack Iran; no to Islamophobia; freedom for Palestine") and even one attacking America and England:
WE CONDEMN TERRORIST ACTIVITIES BY...
THE STATES (USA, ENGLAND, ISRAEL)
THE INDIVIDUALS
THE ORGANISATIONS (AL-QAIDA, CIA, KGB, MOSSAD)
Oldpunkette notes that "the turnout was really low," so it seems unlikely that the BBC reporter simply failed to see the invidious signs. It's far more probable that the Beeb reported selectively, providing its readers and viewers with only information that fit its script--much as the U.S. media did two years ago when they portrayed Cindy Sheehan as a symbolic everymom, ignoring her hateful anti-American rants. When journalists do this, what they are producing is propaganda, not news.
Two Papers in One!
"Now, a pact between local tribal sheiks and American commanders has sent thousands of young Iraqis from Anbar Province into the fight against extremists linked to Al Qaeda. . . . The deal has all but ended the fighting in Ramadi and recast the city as a symbol of hope that the tide of the war may yet be reversed to favor the Americans and their Iraqi allies."--news story, New York Times, July 8
"It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit. . . . Milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. . . . Whatever [President's Bush's] cause was, it is lost. . . . Keeping troops in Iraq will only make things worse."--editorial, New York Times, July 8
BY JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 3:43 p.m. EDT
What the BBC Concealed
"About 1,500 people have taken part in a rally against terrorism in Glasgow, organised by mosques and Islamic groups," the BBC reported on Saturday:
The "Scotland United Against Terror" event was held in George Square. . . .
Osama Saeed, one of the organisers, said: "We've been staggered by the messages of support we've been getting this week from the four corners of the globe.
"We thought on a local level we'd get together and do this to allow the grassroots to display their anger at the attacks, little realising nothing like this had ever been done before anywhere else before.
"The eyes of the world will be on a Scotland sending out the message that all our communities are united against terrorism.
"The Muslim community have called this event, but what's touching is how the rest of the country has responded to us."
Accompanying the BBC story is a photo of 9-year-old Mohamed Souidi holding up a sign printed by the Muslim Council of Scotland reading "No to terrorism." There's also a slide show of nine other pictures, including two other MCS signs: "One Scotland, one message, no to terror!" and "Terrorism has no religion." All very anodyne, if ambiguous (that last message in particular strikes us as an evasion of both reality and responsibility).
But the BBC's account is misleading. Blogress "oldpunkette" has photos from the same rally, and they show preprinted signs making excuses for terrorism ("To end the bombings, bring the troops home"; "Troops out: Don't attack Iran; no to Islamophobia; freedom for Palestine") and even one attacking America and England:
WE CONDEMN TERRORIST ACTIVITIES BY...
THE STATES (USA, ENGLAND, ISRAEL)
THE INDIVIDUALS
THE ORGANISATIONS (AL-QAIDA, CIA, KGB, MOSSAD)
Oldpunkette notes that "the turnout was really low," so it seems unlikely that the BBC reporter simply failed to see the invidious signs. It's far more probable that the Beeb reported selectively, providing its readers and viewers with only information that fit its script--much as the U.S. media did two years ago when they portrayed Cindy Sheehan as a symbolic everymom, ignoring her hateful anti-American rants. When journalists do this, what they are producing is propaganda, not news.
Two Papers in One!
"Now, a pact between local tribal sheiks and American commanders has sent thousands of young Iraqis from Anbar Province into the fight against extremists linked to Al Qaeda. . . . The deal has all but ended the fighting in Ramadi and recast the city as a symbol of hope that the tide of the war may yet be reversed to favor the Americans and their Iraqi allies."--news story, New York Times, July 8
"It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit. . . . Milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. . . . Whatever [President's Bush's] cause was, it is lost. . . . Keeping troops in Iraq will only make things worse."--editorial, New York Times, July 8 |
