Megaphone Alert! BBC, Sky News refuse broadcast of Gaza charity.

[Sandra]

BBC, Sky News won't broadcast Gaza charity appeal. Megaphone wants us to show support for the decision of these two news outlets.

Yeah right.

http://ws.collactive.com/points/point?id=PNl3pCBwi4MT

[UtahApocalypse]

They are a private news outlet. They don't have to report anything.

[angelatc]

It's a huge deal in Britain, though.

The public wants it on.

And - is the BBC private?

[surf]

the BBC has claimed that it woud compromise their integrity as a "neutral" observor, but i don't understand how this could be if they are simply airing a commercial asking for aid. it would be like claiming to not be neutral on Coke or Pepsi (or whomever advertises on the BBC). i wonder if they ran any Obama or McWar ads.... any ads for lap-dogs Tony Blair or Gordon Brown.

But, it is their decision to make. Their revenue to foresake.

[coyote_sprit]

It's a huge deal in Britain, though.

The public wants it on.

And - is the BBC private?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/charter/

They are funded publicly I think.

[Sandra]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/charter/

They are funded publicly I think.

It's socially funded broadcasting. Not private. Like what we'll be forced into eventually when the networks want their bailout.

[Imperial]

I actually agree with the BBC here. It is made by a government entity that manages private charities in the UK- and as such is a work of government pathos. It would be completely biased to be aired, especially as informative. This isn't an ad- the government is trying to force this down BBC.

This is actually a good test of the British system of media. Because, even with the public funding, they actually provide higher-quality journalism than our own.

Besides that, why are people freaking out that two stations refuse when all the others acquiesced?

[Zolah]

I actually agree with the BBC here. It is made by a government entity that manages private charities in the UK- and as such is a work of government pathos. It would be completely biased to be aired, especially as informative. This isn't an ad- the government is trying to force this down BBC.

This is actually a good test of the British system of media. Because, even with the public funding, they actually provide higher-quality journalism than our own.

Besides that, why are people freaking out that two stations refuse when all the others acquiesced?

Basically, a committee of charity groups, Christian Aid, Save the Children, Red Cross, etc. decided that the situation in Gaza had reached a point that they wanted to broadcast appeals for aid on all the television stations, they did this for Burma, Sudan, Congo, the tsunami in south-east Asia - and the BBC and sky obviously never had any problems airing appeals for these causes, these appeals have managed to raise £12-18 million for each cause I believe - and people are angry that because the BBC and sky are refusing to air the appeal that means less money will be raised for a worthy cause.

Both stations have stated their main objection was that they wished to remain impartial in an ongoing news story (even though Gaza has only been getting about 10 minutes news time each day on the 24 hours news channels and refusal to broadcast the appeal has become a bigger story in itself at the moment).

As a side note also, I remember reading that American stations had been broadcasting appeals for aid to Israel since the 2nd week of Israel's offensive in Gaza, if Fox broadcast those adverts it wouldn't look good for Sky - their sister station showing adverts for aid to Israel during the conflict and then their own refusal to show similar appeals for aid to Gaza based on wanting to remain impartial - Sky and Fox both being owned by Newscorp/Murdoch.

And a little background info on BBC for people - Every household in Britain with a TV has to pay around £130 as a TV liscence fee (basically a tax for watching TV), I assume this raises about £3 billion for the BBC (assuming around 30 million people pay, about half the population) - and in return the BBC has no adverts/commercials, which is quite nice in itself.

Oh and I just remembered something else, the BBC has somewhat of a reputation of being considered as a little bias against Israel apparently, I was reading a little about something that happened in 2004 called the Balen Report, but I don't remember anything about it all, wikipedia has little info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balen_Report
I was also watching a special about media coverage of the Gaza conflict showing differing opinions of British Jewish families and British Muslim families a couple weeks ago in which I remember a Jewish family that reiterated the opinion among some people that BBC was bias against Israel..

I made a point a few weeks ago about the fact that the BBC is often seen as both Pro-Israeli by people with Palestinian sympathies and as Anti-Israeli by people with Israeli sympathies, my conclusion being that at the very least the BBC is not completely unbiased. So it seems bizarre to me that they say they wish to remain impartial by refusing to air this broadcast for aid appeal now.

As for megaphone, well it's to be expected really, on a recent Channel 4 programme called 'Unseen Gaza' (google it if you wish) specifically about media coverage of the Gaza conflict, a BBC executive acknowledged that he received many thousands of emails regarding the perceived bias of the BBC on the conflict, from people of both opinions - that the BBC is too pro-Israel or too anti-Israel and I believe he said that he just took these emails with a pinch of salt and focused on constructive emails instead.


/edit Providing more information about the DEC - Disasters Emergency Committee, that is trying to get their appeal broadcast by the BBC and sky


The Disasters Emergency Committee is an umbrella group comprising thirteen UK charities. These charities are all associated with disaster related issues such as providing clean water, humanitarian aid and medical care.

The DEC was created in 1963. It brings together a unique alliance of the UK's aid, corporate, public and broadcasting sectors to rally the nation's compassion, and ensure that funds raised go to DEC agencies best placed to deliver effective and timely relief to people most in need.

In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the committee provided 3000 telephone lines for people to give donations and ran television campaigns in order to obtain donations. It was instrumental in coordinating the efforts of the member charities so that all the areas affected received aid and that there was no overlap in the services provided in any one area.

And all the charity organisations that are a part of the DEC are listed as:
Action Aid, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, World Vision.

http://www.dec.org.uk/

[rational thinker]

This man doesn't care. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E21MdXe3BOQ&fmt=18)

[raiha]

Tony Benn! Good for him!!!It's good to know there are good noble intelligent people out there who can see things the way they are.