Alan Johnston Free at Last!
July 4th, 2007London received good news this afternoon, people have gathered infront of The BBC building in Central London to celebrate the release of BBC’s correspondent to the Middle East Alan Johnston.
Alan Johnston was kidnapped in Gaza 114 days ago. His case received international attention, people from New York to Bangkok , Sydney to Beirut were having vigils calling for his release.
A month after his kidnapping, BBC, Sky News, CNN, and Aljazeera, joined forces in a common broadcast to highlight his plight.
Today is not just happy day for London or the BBC, it’s a happy day for everyone that believes in the power of journalism in the world at large, today marks the triumph of word and picture over sword and capture.
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It was inevitable that he would be freed, as he is simply a stooge of Hamas.
The BBC only serves as the mouthpiece of Hamas. In fact, members of Hamas are directly employed by the BBC. Think about it: a terrorist organization has employees in the British national news service. Their salaries are paid by the British taxpayer.
These kinds of contradictions in British society are one of the causes of terrorism in Britain today. Postmodern multicultural relativity is completely unworkable in the context of a welfare state. Only the Conservatives in Britain understand that; the Labour and Liberal parties are still struggling to come to grips with the consequences.
Hi Finnpundit, can you please provide an example of a reporter or journalist who represents Hamas in the BBC?
The BBC I know tends to be pro-Arab, but I don’t think it goes to this extent.
Johnston did say that he was not being mistreated by HAMAS. Other sources said they threatened to kill him several times. So, I don’t know what to believe, maybe Alan will write about his own experiences as a result of this.
Hey Finnpundit and Esra’a,
Thank you very much for sharing your comments, but I beg to differ with both of you.
I certainly believe it’s ridiculously outrageous to assume that the BBC supports Hamas in anyway!, yet Esra’a,I think the BBC has never been pro-arab nor it has been pro-israeli,I believe it sought objectivity and professionality as much as possible, and that’s why the BBC has been the main source for my daily dose of international news eversince I finished secondary school.
Well I am not really an expert, but my politics professor does documentaries for the BBC channel, and he admits that it is pro-Arab, so I take his word for it. But that is an assumption I believe and not a fact that I should state, although judging by BBC’s coverage of Middle Eastern affairs I do find it generally in favor of us. I guess they are trying their best to stay objective and I should respect that.
First of all i want to tell u that iam from Gaza so let me tell u the details of the event and its important to say that i am moderate i am not with hammas or with any parties .
Allan johnston was kidnapped by a family called (Do3′mosh) not related to hammas, they used to treat with citizens by the force language , this family kidnapped Alan just to dicker the BBC to get money, but they didn’t get what they want and the story pass over their expectation.
Now this family is in deadlock, so they alleged that they are an army who seeks to release muslims prisoner.
Finnpundit , please try to see the full part of the cup, now we are so proud of Ismael haneya (the leader of hammas) although i am against a lot of actions that hammas made at the last days, but we are safe in gaza , and hammas not terrorist , they defense and seek to get our stolen land, i hope all you to be objective and judge the events from your own thoughts , the truth is clear.
Of course, I agree that this is an important moment worth celebrating. But I think his release has very little to do with the attention of the news media, and more to do with the ouster of Muhammad Dahlan’s gangs from Gaza. I also think Finnpundit is full of it and that his comments are not worth responding to. Really, can you take somebody seriously who says something absurd like the BBC is pro-Hamas?
Here’s the link regarding the Hamas BBC employee:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1182409649992&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The BBC denies that, of course, but that is to be expected.
One of the most informative sites in gaining an understanding of how the BBC skews the news is here:
biased-bbc.blogspot.com/
The website has details on abuses for several years by now.
Here are more sites on BBC bias:
http://www.bbcwatch.co.uk/index.html
http://bbceye.blogspot.com/
http://www.globalbritain.org/BBC/BBC%20Front%20page.htm
Here’s a YouTube video detailing a rather strong point-of-view about the BBC:
http://atoryblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/view-of-bbc-bias.html
My own view on the BBC is that it has to be understood as an organ of the welfare state intent on preserving the prerogatives of an elite who depend on the welfare state as a source for power. Thus, it cannot survive in an open marketplace, as it would be subject to the will of the people as expressed by the marketplace. It can only survive through statist fiat that is not subject to plebiscite.
The BBC’s pro-Arab bias is mainly a residue of the grand socialist narrative started by the Soviet Union, which intended to co-opt nationalist struggles into socialist ones. The grand narrative collapsed in the west, but it still lives on, unexamined, in Arab and Muslim worlds, where the Soviet roots of the narrative are relatively unknown.
The grand narrative did take root in western universities in the seventies and eighties, though transformed into a postmodern, post-colonial narrative that has influenced several generations of journalism professors and students, most of whom have resisted re-examining the dogma.
Also, the BBC, like so many other welfare states in Europe, finds it convenient to continue the charade, as bashing Israel is often seen, among other things, as a means to bash the US, which continues to offer a successful economic model that is a direct threat to the existence of the welfare state.
Finnpundit, you wear a tin foil hat don’t you? And do you know 9/11 was the work of the Jews? And soon the little green men from Mars are going to probe your arse, that is if they haven’t done it already.
Conspiracy theorists are cute.
And soon the little green men from Mars are going to probe your arse, that is if they haven’t done it already.
A scatological reference usually means that someone’s realized they’ve run out of cogent arguments themselves.
Or because they think that they can’t logically debate a conspiracy theorists.
We could argue all day and night about whether the media is pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli, but the real proof of which side the media is biased against is by seeing how the majority of the the politicians view the situation and what actions the government takes regarding the issue.
Here in the United States, Jews and non-Jews appear on television and radio programs and newspaper columns complaining of the pro-Palestinian bias of the media. Of course, those who have the opposite point of view, hardly ever get a chance to express their views in the mainstream media.
Wen we look at what American politicians (national and local) say, 99.9999…% always side with Israel. The U.S. government’s actions refelects an unconditional support for Israel.