BBC News quotes Iran press omitting state control

BBC News features an aggregation of the Iranian press’s reaction to the IAEA decision to reports concerns about Iran to the UN Security Council. Among the newspapers quoted are Jomhuri-ye-Eslami, considered a mouthpiece of the fundamentalist Islamic Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, al-Vefagh, produced by the official news agency of Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency, Kayhan, published under the supervision of the Office of the Supreme Leader, Tehran Times, which has a record of publishing anti-Semitic articles^[1] and Resalat, considered a hardline newspaper. Additionally, all media in Iran must be approved by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance. Could the BBC not at least point this out?

1. See articles at ADL website, Jihad Watch and Nikoed Nederland.

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BBC News doesn’t report French left-wing students’ violence

In Labour law to stay, says Villepin, one can read the following.

The unrest reached a climax when riot police used force to evacuate students from Sorbonne university on Saturday.

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Students launched protests in dozens of universities last week, culminating in a three-day sit-in at Paris's Sorbonne.

It ended when police stormed in in the early hours of Saturday morning with batons and tear gas, clearing the main building in less than 10 minutes.

Would it be too much to say that the students vandalised the Sorbonne before the riot police came, breaking windows, deteriorating amphitheatres and classrooms, damaging the furniture, burning books in the library and gratuitously ransacking the academic right-wing union’s office, burning the entirety of the documents there?

The First Employment Contract (CPE) is a two-year contract for under-26-year-olds which employers can break off at any time without explanation.

BBC News could at least add that there are compensation and one month’s notice, two facts that the French Left also prefers to leave out when spreading disinformation campaign against the contract.

Some students accused the police of unnecessary violence, and student union leaders said it could escalate the dispute.

"If the government wants to continue using force... then we are heading towards a serious conflict," said Bruno Julliard, president of students' union UNEF.

Could the BBC not speak of the two students who attempted to enter their university, with one getting beaten up by far left militants, the other ending up in hospital after having her wheelchair pushed by a group of activists?

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The BBC considers Mao a ‘hero’

In China mulls Mao banknote change, one can read the following lead paragraph.

China may remove Mao Zedong's image from its mixed range of banknotes to make room for other heroes, according to the state media.

Mao Zedong is to be considered among “heroes”? Is that the same Mao Zedong whose government policy caused the death of several tens of millions of Chinese (from 29 million to around 70 million, claim various sources)?

One could be led to believe that it is the state media which refers to Mao as a hero, but neither Xinhua, the government’s official press agency, nor the People’s Daily, the Communist Party of China’s official newspaper, consider Mao a hero among others.

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Iraq not ‘a mess’ because minister says so

BBC News has published the story Minister admits Iraq is 'a mess', of which even the title reeks of bias: the use of the term admits implies that Iraq is “a mess”, that this is fact and not Kim Howells’s opinion. The BBC should have worded the title as has Scotsman.com: Iraq a mess, says minister Howells. The latter title in no way implies that Iraq is “a mess” and makes it clear that it is minister Howells’s opinion.

Besides, why does BBC News report on the mental scars of war, supposed drift towards civil war and the increase in Iraqi rights abuses, and not on the positive stories such as the fact that it was the Iraqi army that kept peace on the streets?

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BBC quotes PA statistic without attribution

In the BBC News article World Bank aid for Palestinians, one can read the following.

As many as one in four Palestinians depend on wages from the Palestinian Authority.

Where did the BBC obtain that figure? From an employee of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, who depends on wages from the Palestinian Authority; the government itself isn’t the most unbiased source on the issue of aid to Palestinians, is it?

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BBC blind to reasons for which Europeans alienate Muslims

BBC News has published an article entitled Europe's angry young Muslims, in which one can read the following.

Europe is home to a new generation of alienated young Muslims whose anger may turn to radicalism, the BBC's Islamic affairs analyst Roger Hardy finds in new three-part series.

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Voices of alienation

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Is a new angry, alienated generation of European Muslims now being drawn to radicalism?

How typical of the BBC to speak of the “alienation” of European Muslims and to ask the opinion of several young smiling “moderates” (one of them asking: “When was the last time Muslims were shown in a positive light?” How about: “The last time the BBC updated its website”?), turning a blind eye on the reasons for which they are alienated.

In the article, the example of France is given.

In the suburbs on the northern rim of the French capital, I found young Muslims, from Arab and African families, who feel excluded by the French state.

When during the riots President Chirac belatedly intervened, telling the people of the suburbs they were all sons and daughters of the French republic, many of them saw it as a bad joke.

France, unlike Britain, tries to keep religion out of public life. Everyone is supposed to be equal, regardless of cultural background.

Try telling that to Ali, who is 24 and unemployed.

"France has betrayed the young people of the suburbs. When you're called Ali you can't get a job. The French don't accept Islam. Politicians promise us mosques and so on, but at the same time they smear us and call us terrorists."

How about asking some of the French why they are hostile to Muslims? Could it be due to the gang rapes, the vandalism and so on? I heard a French taxi driver on television the other day say that he no longer took Muslims, because he was exasperated that they didn’t pay the fee. As much as the BBC would like it not to be the case, the alienation of European Muslims has been brought upon them because of the behaviour of some of the community’s members, not because Europeans are intrinsically bigoted.

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BBC News stealth-edit

The article Israel 'to make more withdrawals' has been stealth-edited (that is, modified without an updated timestamp).

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