Readers may recall that at the beginning of June the BBC World service aired a politicised report ostensibly about young Palestinians and culture in a series titled ‘A Young World’ that was aired on a programme called ‘The Compass’. As was noted here at the time:
“Clearly Nida Ibrahim went far beyond her remit of providing BBC World Service audiences with an insight into how young Palestinians “express themselves culturally” and instead exploited the platform to promote copious amounts of politicised messaging and delegitimisation of Israel without any right of reply being given.
The BBC cannot possibly claim that this report meets its supposed standards of accurate and impartial journalism.”
The creator of that report – BBC Arabic’s Nida Ibrahim – was interviewed on the July 7th edition of the BBC World Service radio programme ‘The Fifth Floor’ (available from 15:27 here) with the item described as follows in the synopsis:
“Nida Ibrahim, who reports for BBC Arabic from Ramallah, has been talking to young Palestinians for a documentary series about the lives of young people around the world. The Palestinian Territories has the youngest population in the Middle East, but politics and administration are dominated by older generations. Nida says young people are finding different ways of expressing themselves.”
The secondary purpose of the item was obviously to further promote that previous problematic report.
Presenter David Amanor introduced the item thus:
Amanor: “To Ramallah now in the West Bank: a small city with a young population. Average age is under 21 and it’s a similar story throughout the Palestinian territories which has the youngest population in the Middle East. So when the BBC decided to do a series about the lives of young people, BBC Arabic’s Nida Ibrahim waved a flag: they’re over here! Nida is based in Ramallah…”
While this particular item avoided the politicised messaging and delegitimisation of Israel heard in Ibrahim’s original report, at its close, Amanor directed listeners to the original problematic programme.
“Nida Ibrahim in Ramallah. Her documentary is on the BBC website. Just search for ‘A Young World’.
Obviously it is disturbing to see the BBC engaging in further promotion of such a biased and politicised report.
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BBC WS radio report on Palestinian culture exploited for one-sided political messaging
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