BBC amplified NGO promotes another Israel delegitimisation campaign
by Hadar Sela
Last October we noted Yolande Knell's amplification of anti-Israel agitprop set up by the campaigning group Avaaz – and the glaring fact that audiences were at no point informed of the identity of the organisers, let alone given any information concerning their political agenda.
Our colleagues at Presspectiva recently reported on another Israel related campaign run by Avaaz.
"The activist network is now promoting a petition that went viral, calling for action against the destruction of a Palestinian community. The petition has the catchy headline: "They're asking us for a miracle."
At the time of writing, some 860,000 people have signed the petition aimed against the Israeli government. Every few seconds another person adds their name to this campaign.
The text informs its readers that:
'Near the hilltops of the village of Bethany, 2000 years ago, it is said that Jesus Christ brought Lazarus back to life.Today those hilltops are home to an indigenous community who are about to be bulldozed into the ground. Their homes, land, and way of life completely wiped out.
But these brave families refuse to fade silently into the darkness. Instead, they are taking a huge risk, rising up against the bulldozers by nonviolently "sitting-in" their homes. They're betting on a miracle: that their act of courage will inspire people around the world to help stop the bulldozers before they crush them.…' […]
No matter how many times you reread the text, the lack of factual information stands out. While the petition is filled with pathos and a heart wrenching description of families facing eviction while waiting for a miracle to save them, it is devoid of any specifics explaining why the community is facing this tragedy. The context of where the community is situated or why it is facing such a brutal eviction is mysteriously left out. […]
The petition provides the reader with no concrete facts. Instead it relies on the emotive use of language. Bulldozers, destruction, miracle, inspiration — these are empty slogans and rallying cries. The people who sign the petition are voicing an amorphous objection to a vague and unspecified "destruction" of a Palestinian community of which they know nothing about.
Trying to give the story a Christian element — the mention of Lazarus and the use of the English name "Pope's Mountain" as opposed to the common Arabic name — are cynical attempts to give the story a religious aspect that it simply does not have."
The full article is available in English here or in Hebrew here.
As has been noted here before, as time goes by the mutually beneficial relationship between the traditional media and NGOs flourishes and expands, with more and more 'news' being sourced from agenda-driven organisations. But when political agendas and reporting meet, questions obviously arise concerning accuracy, impartiality and reliability.
The very least the BBC should be doing is adhering to its own editorial guidelines on impartiality by customarily and rigorously clarifying to audiences the political motivations of NGOs and campaigning groups in any content that promotes or amplifies their agenda.
BBC's Knell relegates impartiality to the bench in campaigning football report
Promoted and quoted: the BBC's preferred NGO contributors in 2016
Accuracy, Avaaz, BBC, BBC editorial guidelines, BBC News, BBC Online, Bedouin, Delegitimisation, Impartiality, Israel, Jahalin, NGOs, Omission, Public Purposes, Yolande Knell
Hadar Sela
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