BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation, largely known as BBC, was initially established on January 1, 1927. The corporation was founded on the professional fundamentals of impartiality and objectivity, however much recent speculation has lead one to question the authenticity of its word. During the Israel-Gaza conflict this summer, the reports BBC conducted involving the Middle East received strong allegations and criticisms, especially toward the coverage of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The reports’ authenticity were so severely questioned as to call for an investigation performed by Malcom Balen, thus resulting in the project taking the name of the well-publicized Belan Report. The issue became evident when BBC simply refused to report the findings in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This then further supported and even enhanced individuals’ suspicions towards the corporation’s work.

        In order to investigate this luring bias, it is beneficial to begin with the article titles.  The headline stating that, “Confrontations between young Palestinians throwing stones and armed Israeli police are now an almost daily occurrence in Shuafat in East Jerusalem” (BBC News) depicts a picture of adolescent, naïve children up against strong, dominate aggressors and overall attempts to portray the Israelis as the bullies. In addition, headlines such as “No light on horizon,” “Simmering city,” and “Amid the rubble” all indicate an extremely negative connotation of the tension in the Gaza strip. BBC sheds light on a troubling situation in a more than hopeless manner. Overall, the headlines center on violence and a lack of incentive to cooperate on both sides, which do not indicate too much bias towards one over the other.

        However, sometimes it is more evident which direction the media material is trying to take its reader in by the words below the headline. One particular article that tugs at one’s emotions mentions that, “there have been other attacks on Israelis in recent months by Palestinians, one of which killed a baby” (BBC News). The purpose of this is to make Palestinians out to be malicious, baby-killing, animals that have no sympathy for any human life. By incorporating the death of the baby, the situation turns from a violent one, to an unthinkable “I cannot believe Palestinians did that” situation. BBC continues to exhibit bias when reporting in an article that, “more than 400,000 of Gaza's residents were displaced by Israel's recent 50-day military operation. Some 18,000 homes were also destroyed and many more were damaged” (BBC News). Using such large, unimaginable numbers is a tactic to make the damage and violence appear as ridiculously insurmountable. BBC follows up with its technique of pulling at the heart to make one side seem worse and one side seem better by exemplifying just how damaging the plethora of violence is by posting interviews of affected Palestinians. BBC is solely focused on plotting the Israelis against Palestinians and uses its anti Israeli attitude to provide readers with personal and touching information that paints Israel in a horrible light.