The Newsroom

BBC Middle East "bias"

Orla Guerin pulled out of region (December 2005)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
DU
Dunedin
Jaimé Alexandéz posted:
Dunedin posted:
To be fair, Barbara Plett's idiocy has made life quite difficult for her BBC colleagues running out of Israel.

I think that's an incredibly ridiculous statement. Barbara Plett is an experienced journalist and that one moment when she said she cried at Arafat's body being flown out of Israel was, in some peoples', and indeed in the governors' view, a lapse in judgement. It shouldn't be held against her, IMO.


I'm afraid you can't have "lapses of concentration" when you're working in the middle east.

It was a stupid thing to say, and the fact that it was not done as part of a live report (but rather planned) makes it all the more reprehensible.

Barbara Plett would not need reminding of how the Israeli government would react to any scrap like this- and she's made life for the BBC in Israel very difficult.

So I'm sorry, but my comments weren't ridiculous.
NG
noggin Founding member
Dunedin posted:
To be fair, Barbara Plett's idiocy has made life quite difficult for her BBC colleagues running out of Israel.

Perhaps the BBC feel the need to show a fresh face to the Israeli government, as a kind of clean slate after the difficulties of the last 12 months.


Yes - though I think it is important to remember that this was not a news report filed for a news show, it was a "From our own correspondent" piece, which is supposed to allow a reporter greater latitude. This aspect of the "incident" is often not mentioned - leaving those who didn't hear the full original broadcast with the impression that it might have been filed for a Radio 4 news summary...
JA
jamesmd
Dunedin posted:
Jaimé Alexandéz posted:
Dunedin posted:
To be fair, Barbara Plett's idiocy has made life quite difficult for her BBC colleagues running out of Israel.

I think that's an incredibly ridiculous statement. Barbara Plett is an experienced journalist and that one moment when she said she cried at Arafat's body being flown out of Israel was, in some peoples', and indeed in the governors' view, a lapse in judgement. It shouldn't be held against her, IMO.


I'm afraid you can't have "lapses of concentration" when you're working in the middle east.

It was a stupid thing to say, and the fact that it was not done as part of a live report (but rather planned) makes it all the more reprehensible.

Barbara Plett would not need reminding of how the Israeli government would react to any scrap like this- and she's made life for the BBC in Israel very difficult.

So I'm sorry, but my comments weren't ridiculous.


I said lapse in judgement, not lapse in concentration, dear.

You say it was a stupid comment - to a certain extent for a moment editorial judgement was lost. However it shouldn't be held against her throughout her whole career.
MA
Matrix
Jaimé Alexandéz posted:
Dunedin posted:
Jaimé Alexandéz posted:
Dunedin posted:
To be fair, Barbara Plett's idiocy has made life quite difficult for her BBC colleagues running out of Israel.

I think that's an incredibly ridiculous statement. Barbara Plett is an experienced journalist and that one moment when she said she cried at Arafat's body being flown out of Israel was, in some peoples', and indeed in the governors' view, a lapse in judgement. It shouldn't be held against her, IMO.


I'm afraid you can't have "lapses of concentration" when you're working in the middle east.

It was a stupid thing to say, and the fact that it was not done as part of a live report (but rather planned) makes it all the more reprehensible.

Barbara Plett would not need reminding of how the Israeli government would react to any scrap like this- and she's made life for the BBC in Israel very difficult.

So I'm sorry, but my comments weren't ridiculous.


I said lapse in judgement, not lapse in concentration, dear.

You say it was a stupid comment - to a certain extent for a moment editorial judgement was lost. However it shouldn't be held against her throughout her whole career.


Very true. Baraba is an excellent journalist and this really shouldn't be around her neck. It's a momentory lapse, not a propoganda statement.

8 days later

AP
AdamP
themagicmonkey posted:
The question is: who gets Caroline Hawley's posting? I doubt people are queueing up for it...


It's just been announced that the current Kabul Correspondent, Andrew North, will be going to Baghdad.
MA
themagicmonkey
How much choice do foreign correspondents get in deciding where they will be posted? How, for example, has Michael Peschardt kept Sydney for 15 years while others move from Baghdad to Jerusalem and from Kabul to Baghdad? Surely after a difficult posting, you'd want something easier?
CA
cat
I guess it very much depends on the journalist.

No organisation is going to force their employees to go to war zones and the like.

I would say there are roughly four different types of post - essential, war, sleepy, and cushy.

Essential: the Washington D.Cs, Jerusalems, Moscows of this world. Places news organisations really can't be without.

War: Speaks for itself... Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

Sleepy: 3rd/2nd world countries like part of South America, a lot of Africa and Asia. Places that are pretty interesting but only make the main news when something ''big'' happens there. Earthquakes, volcanoes, famines, etc.

Cushy: Paris, Sydney, Berlin, Tokyo... 1st world countries where great human tragedies are rare and famine/earthquakes/political instability isn't going to cause a major news story. News organisations are just there as a matter of course, because they're rich countries with influential Governments.

As for the BBC in Australia, I'm more intrigued about Red Harrison, their long-serving Sydney correspondent. I've never actually seen him, and only rarely heard him on News 24. I'm assuming he does a fair bit for the World Service. He pops up every so often, has a great voice, and sounds like he's been there for years... bit a curious name, too.
AP
AdamP
Lots of the Correspondents in countries you term as "sleepy" are actually on the World Service regularly, because they're some of the areas where the WS is at its strongest. Just because you don't see or hear them on the domestic networks, doesn't mean they're not hard at work.

As for people who've been in the same foreign posting, it's usually becaue they're freelance. They live there, they work for the BBC, the arrangement works well, so why change it?

Many of the Sponsored Reporter contracts are awarded for fixed terms, usually a couple of years, which means people tend to move around quite a lot.
JW
JamesWorldNews
Yes, I remember the days of Tim Sebastian (Moscow for hundreds of years), Mark Tully (Delhi - similar period), David Willey (Rome), Red Harrison (Australia) and Martin Adeney (Industrial Correspondent for what seemed to be ninety years.......), Ian Ross (Industrial Editor), Michael Blakey (Sports Correspondent) and Jeremy Thompson (Leeds and Midlands Correspondent)...........................sigh. I am getting old I think.

Willey and Harrison appear regularly on the World Service.
CA
cat
AdamP posted:
Lots of the Correspondents in countries you term as "sleepy" are actually on the World Service regularly, because they're some of the areas where the WS is at its strongest. Just because you don't see or hear them on the domestic networks, doesn't mean they're not hard at work.


Absolutely, and I don't believe I suggested otherwise.

I did say ''rarely make the main news'', by which I meant TV bulletins on BBC One.
JC
Jack Carkdale
in the topic title, rts posted:
BBC Middle East


Sorry to be flippant, but that sounds like a potential name for the Milton Keynes (Look East (West)) region! Wink
NE
News24
Interesting 'clarification' in Broadcast magazine this week re: Orla Guerin. Someone at the BBC obviously wasn't happy withy the wording of their piece.

Newer posts