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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| BBC's Child Protection Policy Nowhere in Sight As Boy Posed Near Bomb |
| 2006-08-25 |
| BBC journalists took photographs of a young Lebanese boy made to pose near an exploded bomb, despite the broadcaster's own policy prioritizing the protection of children. In an article posted on the BBC News website earlier this week, Martin Asser reported on a Lebanese woman who returned to the war-ravaged south of the country to find an unexploded 1000-pound Israeli bomb lying inside her home. "The shell is huge," Asser wrote, "bigger than the young boy pushed forward to stand reluctantly next to it while we get our cameras out and record the scene for posterity." The report is accompanied by a photograph showing the bomb lying in a rubble-strewn living room, several feet away from a boy who appears to be around 10. "This is just one of thousands of nasty surprises greeting those coming back to southern Lebanon after Israel's five-week war with the Hizballah militant group," the report says. It quotes the woman as saying she is waiting for Hizballah to come and take the bomb away. The house is in Bint Jbeil, a terrorist stronghold and the location of some of the fiercest fighting during the recent conflict. The BBC report gives no indication that journalists were responsible for the decision to pose a child near an unexploded bomb, but neither does it suggest that they said or did anything to stop it from happening. They also went ahead and took pictures. Cybercast News Service asked the BBC whether it approved of a decision to take and use photographs that were not only posed, but also may also have endangered the life of a child. The broadcaster also was asked whether its staffers had attempted in any way to prevent the child from being made to stand near the bomb. "We make every effort not to put people in danger in the course of our reporting," a spokeswoman said in a written response. "Our staff did express concern at the situation, and it emerged that the family reported in this story were living in the building with the unexploded bomb," she said. "The photograph and the story records the reality of how people are living and reacting to the aftermath of combat in South Lebanon." The BBC's detailed set of editorial and other guidelines, available on one of the corporation's websites, includes a child protection policy. One of its two key principles is "the welfare of the child or young person is the paramount consideration." The policy continues: "It is everyone at the BBC's responsibility to promote the protection of children and young people. In following the policy staff are always expected to maintain a sense of proportion, apply common sense to situations and protect the child's welfare as priority." Criticism of the BBC action has appeared on a number of popular weblogs. "The BBC is engaging in child endangerment to aid Hizballah terrorists in their media propaganda," wrote Marc Landers on his USS Neverdock blog. Another site, BBC Eye, said one obvious question needed asking: "Why didn't the BBC refuse to take the photos? Cowardice? Or wanting to spread the anti-Israel line? Or both?" Media Backspin opined: "It's bad enough when photojournalists stage photo opportunities, but now the BBC has taken matters to a new twisted level -- endangering kids for the sake of a photo." Three years ago, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reporter lost her job after an incident in which Iraqi children were asked to pose on an unexploded missile in Baghdad. Gina Wilkinson's report was aimed at highlighting dangers facing children in Iraq because of the presence of unexploded ordnance, but the ABC's own Media Watch program uncovered footage - not originally shown to viewers - in which she asked a young boy and girl to play near a Soviet-era SA-2 missile and launcher, while the camera rolled. Australian journalism professor Mark Pearson said at the time that while many television stories involved some staging, "I can think of no circumstances where a journalist should encourage someone to place themselves in danger for a news report, particularly when the report is meant to be exposing that very danger." A number of media organizations have been under fire in recent weeks for journalistic decisions taken during coverage of the Israeli-Hizballah conflict. Reuters fired a stringer for digitally doctoring pictures, and a number of organizations were criticized for playing along as Lebanese "civil defense workers" set up scenes involving the corpses of children killed in Israeli air raids. Some websites also raised concerns about what they saw as gullible media coverage of claims that two Lebanese ambulances had been struck by Israeli missiles - allegations which on closer examination appeared suspect. |
| Posted by:mcsegeek1 |
| #5 An oversight, LOL. It's hard to get good producers, I guess. Maybe if they hired Mary Mapes... |
| Posted by: flyover 2006-08-25 21:36 |
| #4 At least these turnips did not have the boy beat on the bomb with a stick, while screaming "Death to Israel". |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-08-25 21:20 |
| #3 Do as I say, not as I do. Makes better propaganda. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-08-25 16:27 |
| #2 BBC journalists took photographs of a young Lebanese boy made to pose near an exploded bomb... You mean, like, a big hole? Johnson! Get me rewrite! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-08-25 16:16 |
| #1 — Golda Meir — |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-25 15:51 |