BBC Blurs Israeli Motives In Gaza Strike

By Published On: April 2, 2010

Readers often don’t get past a headline — or, at best, the first few lines of a news story. That’s why journalism 101 calls for providing the essentials about an event — who, what, where, when, why — at the very beginning of an article. An April 2 BBC Web site posting flunked the test in a story about an Israeli strike on Gaza.

The Israeli air force attacked weapons and training facilities in the Gaza strip, in retaliation for the recent firing of Qassam rockets into Israel, as well as the killing of two IDF soldiers in Khan Younis last Friday.

However, readers of the BBC website will have a hard time fully understanding Israel’s motives and actions.

Unlike similar stories in the New York Times and CNN, the BBC article waits until the ninth paragraph, to inform its readers that this is a retaliatory strike due to Hamas rocket fire.

Before getting to the fact of rockets fired on Israel, the BBC explains the Palestinian position and even harkens back to operation Cast Lead (including a death toll figure), and includes an extended quote by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya calling “on the international community to intervene in the latest cycle of violence between Gaza and Israel in order to avoid a possible escalation.”

Posted by NB

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