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| Britain |
| Saddam not a dictator at BBC |
| 2003-12-20 |
| Snipped from a Daily Telegraph Opinion column with the interesting title "London Spy" "An email has been circulated telling us not to refer to Saddam as a dictator," I’m told. "Instead, we are supposed to describe him as the former leader of Iraq. Tsk, tsk. "Apparently, because his presidency was endorsed in a referendum, he was technically elected. Hence the word dictator is banned. It’s all rather ridiculous." This wouldn’t be a problem @ NYT. He’d be "Mr. Hussein." The Beeb insists that the email merely restates existing guidelines. "We wanted to remind journalists whose work is seen and heard internationally of the need to use neutral language," says a spokesman. Andrew Sullivan: Under these guidelines, would Hitler have ever been called a "dictator"? He was originally elected in a freer election than Saddam, after all.Heh. Too easy. |
| Posted by:Glenn (not Reynolds) |
| #6 Not that I've really thought through this but it seems that a lot of media has been corrupted with mideast cash. As well as universities. Can't provide any links but it seems as though... |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-12-20 11:53:30 PM |
| #5 Gasse Kattze: The BBC WS Arabic language TV newsroom didn't really close in 1996. It MORPHED into Al-Jezz. BBC is already a virtual branch of Al-Jezz. More importantly, I'm beginning to think maybe the Brits are wise to this fact. I believe the Brits are starting to debate the future of the BBC as a tax payer funded news organ. Certainly we should be doing the same here in the USA with the likes of PBS and NPR. |
| Posted by: Mark 2003-12-20 8:13:24 PM |
| #4 Scooter, I found this:Al-Jazeera was launched after the closure of the BBC World Service's Arabic language TV newsroom in 1996. The article is here. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2003-12-20 5:19:00 PM |
| #3 Hitler was "elected," too. So was Stalin. Guess neither of them was a dictator. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-12-20 3:32:36 PM |
| #2 I believe BBC is actually the mother of Al-jazeera. I think I read somewhere that it was the Middle-East branch of the BBC before it changed names and become and independant news organization. But my memory is hazy, and I could be wrong. Can anyone confirm this, or correct me? |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-12-20 3:13:45 PM |
| #1 Way to easy. Just another example of BBC bias. I wonder how much longer it will be before they become a branch of Al-jazeera? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-20 2:57:04 PM |