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INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY
This will likely go nowhere, but at least the time consumed by twisted intra-ABC arguments and justifications might eat into their ability to produce another Hezbollah-friendly kids’ show:
Australia’s Jewish community has written a letter of complaint to the ABC, claiming a children’s TV news program reporting the Middle East conflict was so wrong and biased it had the effect of “poisoning young minds”.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Grahame Leonard wrote to the national broadcaster to complain about the segment featured on the July 25 edition of Behind The News ...
The ECAJ says the report contained so much misinformation about the escalating Middle East conflict that the ABC must immediately correct the public record ...
“The ABC has taken this complaint very seriously,” an ABC corporate spokeswoman said today.
“The story is currently being investigated by the ABC.”
Well theres one station isnt controlled by the JOOOOOOOO’s…
Pity about that hey?
Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2006 07 31 at 01:22 PM • permalinkThe pelting rain played a soggy drum roll on the window, and I sipped cold coffee while blowing imaginary smoke from the dead stump of a cigar in my federally-mandated smoke-free office, when she came in – my favorite ABC public relations employee, seeking out Paco Investigations to look into another case of missing context. She was a five-alarm redhead, with more curves than Bobo Newsome on a good day at Tiger Stadium, all of them wrapped in a tight blue dress that might have passed for a full-body tattoo.
I plucked my eyes off her frame, screwed them back into their sockets, and glanced at the file she had dropped on my desk.
Looked like the same old crap: ABC had been accused of trying to pass off a terrorist gang as harmless social workers.
“The Jews want an answer”, my ABC friend cooed, in a voice so silky you could have had polka dots printed on it and worn it around your collar like a necktie.
“Media bias, doll face. Case solved. That’ll be a hundred bucks”
She pouted a little and turned on her stiletto heels to leave. She paused at the door long enough to glance coyly over her shoulder: “Call me later?”
“We’ll see, baby, we’ll see.”
She shrugged and swished out of the office. She’d be ok; as the PR mouthpiece for ABC, smoothing over all the screwups of that fumble-fingered organization, she’d have a job as long as she wanted it. And me? All I was left with was a c-note and the memory of a swell set of gams, retreating briskly into the night.
The ABC’s internet page for the transcript of the show is ‘being updated’ now. So the transcript’s gone.
It’s available at ICJS
You may have to register at ICJS to access it though, it’s under the “Media Imbalance” button and the topic is “Propaganda for young minds, courtesy of our ABC”
Please sing this to the Theme song ” Humphrey B bear”. ( okies 1,2 1234…....
Look over there, it’s Hezbollah bear,
He has best friends everywhere,
Children, governments, animals too,
He loves them all, especially capitalist and you,
If you feel glum and you need your chum,
Good old Hezbollah bear,
Hezzy, Hezzy, Hezbollah bear,
You’ll see him here and you’ll see him there,
You’ll hear his name down every street,
He’s the very best friend you’ll ever meet,
Hooray for Hezzbolah, good old Hezzy,
Hooray for Hezbollah bear!
Aww.. it’s kinda catchy don’t you think? Just what the ABC prescribes to all good kiddies.Paco! Karl read your field report while I was in Lebanon, uh, doing some stuff. He likes your style. He said it made it easier to read. Now he wants all of us to do it. Thanks a freaking heap.
Now, I got to try typing out my field report, a la Mickey Spillane.
It was a dark and stormy night in Leb land ...
Posted by wronwright on 2006 07 31 at 10:03 PM • permalinkThe horror !!
A kids show not pushing a Zionist agenda!!
Having being “poisioned” these kids might grow up thinking that the IDF excells at killing women and children cowering in their homes but have a harder time against “soldiers”.
Perhaps the BTN team could explain Israel’s right to self defence. ie. keep the numbers low, dont get greedy. 18 women here, 8 kids there, 4 terrorists over here.
Posted by Marky MkII on 2006 07 31 at 10:30 PM • permalinkThe horror! Banned for being a repeat troll who signed in under a slightly different name and email. Enjoy your fifteen nanoseconds of fame. They’re already over.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 07 31 at 10:51 PM • permalinkFrom today’s Age p8, in a special section “The Way Ahead” meant to simply explain and background the Hezbollah/Israel in an unbiased way (I generally find such sections in The Age are particularly sly and mendacious, such as one a fortnight ago that said Hezbollah had fired “several” rockets into Israel):
From today:
‘Hezbollah is theoretically committed to destroying Israel. But its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has a pragmatic streak...blah blah.”
One interprets this to say, ‘Hezbollah doesn’t REALLY want to destroy Israeli, it’s just, you know, huffing and puffing. And Sheik Nasrallah is really a nice sensible guy who wouldn’t really dream of massacring Jews.’
The origin of this tripe: The Age’s favorite
source - The Guardian.
no bias hereIt is fair enough for Behind The News (BTN)to try and explain to primary school kids what it is they keep seeing on the nightly news.
Unfortunately, trying to give any unbiased history of that part of the Middle East is fraught with danger. Atrocities have occured to all peoples in the region in tit-for-tat exchanges.
You can be sure that the BTN team would have been told to be very careful when reporting further on this.
The ABC caved. They sent me an email this afternoon:
Thank you for your email of Thursday 27 July regarding the ABC’s ‘Behind the News’ program and online article about the current crisis in Lebanon.
While the intention of this story was to communicate a most complex situation to a young audience, the ABC acknowledges that the content failed to meet the requirements of balance and impartiality. The story has been removed from the ABC website. The content is currently being reviewed, and revised material will be posted in due course.
Regretfully, in its attempt to be simple and concise, this story did not represent key relevant viewpoints effectively. Some of the descriptions were over-simplistic and inappropriate.
Behind the News has an important and significant role to play in bringing complex issues to young audiences. The editorial standards of accuracy, impartiality and balance are key benchmarks of the program’s success. The specific errors in judgment in relation to this particular story are regrettable and not indicative of the program’s overall high standards.
Thank you for bringing this matter to the attention of the ABC.
Yours sincerely
Denise Musto
Audience Liaison Manager
ABC Audience & Consumer AffairsHere’s the email I sent that (hopefully) contributed to this conversion:
>comments: 27 July 2006
>
>I am writing to express my disappointment with the contents of the “Behind
>the News” segment titled “Israel Bombing” and the accompanying Lebanon
>Backgrounder. I read the transcript at:
>
>http://abc.net.au/tv/btn/stories/s1695372.htm
>
>I realise that this is a complex issue but if a report cannot be
>reasonably accurate and balanced it is better not to produce it.
>
>The report has problems with facts: for example, Hezbollah is not made up
>of Palestinans, but of Shia Lebanese sponsored and armed by Iran. Its
>purpose is to destroy Israel, not to recover “palestinian land”. Hamas and
>Hezbollah were not founded until the 1980’s, more than thirty years after
>the flight of the refugees. The UN has not demanded a cease-fire (that
>would require a Security Council resolution).
>
>Second, interpretations which are tendentious are presented as fact: for
>example, airports and roads are bombed to stop people escaping, rather
>than to stop arms being sent in to support Hezbollah.
>
>Third, history is presented so that only one side’s viewpoint is given:
>for example, Israel took land from Palestinian muslims, rather than Israel
>was attacked by arab armies in an attempt to destroy it and who took land
>from jews. Israel “took over” the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, rather than
>defending itself against Egypt and Jordan, and Israel’s offer to return
>the land in exchange for peace was rejected by the arabs.
>
>Fourth, many relevant facts are omitted that would put events in a
>different light. For example, the prisoners in Israel are terrorists who
>have been properly tried and sentenced in a fair court, and are held in
>proper and humane conditions, while Hezbollah kidnapped ordinary soldiers
>from inside Israel and has murdered such hostages in the past. Palestinian
>refugees are mentioned, but not the similar number of jewish refugees
>driven out of arab countries after 1948 and who have settled in Israel.
>The UN has called for Hezbollah to be disarmed and disbanded.
>
>Fifth, the fighting is described so as to minimise Israeli injuries and
>blame Israel for Lebanese injuries that are actually Hezbollah’s
>responsibility, such as those caused by using the population as “human
>shields” (which is actually a war crime on Hezbollah’s part, not
>Israel’s). It should be pointed out that Hezbollah is trying to maximise
>Israeli AND Lebanese civilian casualties, while Israel is trying to
>minimise both.
>
>I do not expect perfect accuracy and balance, but all these errors and
>distortions serve to put Israel into an undeserved poor light and to
>whitewash Hezbollah (and Hamas and the PLO). This clear bias reflects very
>poorly on the ABC, both journalistically and ethically.See? The ABC may not be completely unredeemable after all.
||
“While the intention of this story was to communicate a most complex situation to a young audience, the ABC acknowledges that the content failed to meet the requirements of balance and impartiality.”
Perhaps the ABC could confine itself to explaining really simple things to children, and leave the difficult stuff to those who can handle the mission.Open wide-come onside…
ABC in trouble also for its THREE part Australian Story about the gaoling of three deadbeats who threw a harmless young man off a pedestrian bridge on to a highway.
Oh they attacked him first (their earlier unrelated prey having escaped them by running away.)The victim was intoxicated and sitting at a bus shelter nearby,harming no-one.They kicked him several times in the face.He was bashed with a tyre lever.Two girls in their car gave evidence against them. Another witness (a driver) saw a man fall from the bridge backwards and said there were three men present. ABC starred cutesy blonde “girlfriend next door"of one of these scumbags.
A JURY found them guilty,they had managed to wiggle out of it on two occasions already.
The Perth public apparently demanded another look at the case.Even left wing journos are outraged at Australian Story.
This time the ABC have trespassed too far and will be punished.blogstrop — “Find me a three year old child. I can’t make head nor tail of this.” — G. Marx
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 08 01 at 10:30 AM • permalink
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Was that the show hosted by al-Krusty the Clown? And featuring Sideshow Zarqawi (who unexpectedly disappeared from the show earlier this year)?
Yeah, gotta be. Love their “Itchy and Splodey” cartoons.