Israel Matzav

Pigs fly: The Beeb apologizes for Itamar coverage

I am sure that many of you have already heard that the BBC has admitted that is coverage of the Arab spring was 'over-excited.' But what you're less likely to have heard, because it has not been as widely publicized, is that the BBC apologized on Monday for its coverage of the Fogel family massacre in Itamar in March 2011 (Hat Tip: CAMERA).

The BBC “got it wrong” by not giving prominence to the massacre of the Fogel family by Palestinians in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, the outgoing director-general has admitted.

Mark Thompson was quizzed by Conservative MP Louise Mensch, who made various complaints to the BBC about the coverage, at a Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee hearing on Tuesday. Mrs Mensch said the BBC’s decision not to include the story as part of its rolling news coverage generated “the most reaction I have ever had in all my time in politics.”

She said: “The BBC ran the story on Radio 4 and a lead item on the website but they never subsequently touched it in broadcast or on the 24-hour rolling news programme on BBC News 24. I only found out, after the event, from an American blog, called “Dead Jews is no news” and the more I went into it, the more shocked I was.

“I was overwhelmed by response from the Jewish community both here and abroad. There was a feeling the BBC just didn’t care and that, if a settler had entered the home of a Palestinian family, slit the throat of their children, that the BBC would have covered that.”

Mrs Mensch had subsequently received an apology from BBC News’s Helen Boaden but wanted Mr Thompson’s reassurance about the BBC’s “even-handedness” on the Middle East conflict.

Can you imagine what's in the unreleased Balen report?

By the way, let's hear it for Louise Mensch, who is simply awesome!

Labels: Balen report, BBC bias, Fogel family massacre, Itamar

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:32 PM