BBC ask for boy to pose with live bomb!

mike65

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5270118.stm

When Um Ali Mihdi returned to her home in the southern Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil two days ago, she found a 1,000lb (450kg) Israeli bomb lying unexploded in her living room.

The shell is huge, bigger than the young boy pushed forward to stand reluctantly next to it while we get our cameras out and record the scene for posterity.

The bomb came through the roof of the single-storey house and half-embedded itself into the floor, just missing the TV.

There is a hole in the roof with exactly the same profile as the shell itself, like when a cartoon character runs through a wall. The tailfin - complete with skull-and-crossbones marking - still lies on the roof next to the hole where it broke off.

Mike.

DMC

If it was going to go off, they were ****ed too and we'd never have heard their story!

blorg

Do you know, I read that story on the BBC today and that was EXACTLY what I thought, WTF were they doing getting a young boy to pose with it!

mike65

I was just happy it missed the telly.

Mike.

flogen

"the young boy pushed forward to stand reluctantly next to it"

The child had way more cop-on than the BBC reporters, that's for sure.
(I took a screenie of it just in case they change it later on.... for posterity, you see )

mike65

So did I!

Mike.

fly_agaric

Don't get the impression it was the BBC doing the pushing forward bit though.
Some stupid and cackhanded Hezbollah "media management"?
It's okay, most people get the point already about this dirty little war without posing children beside unexploded bombs.

flogen

fly_agaric wrote:

Don't get the impression it was the BBC doing the pushing forward bit though.
Some stupid and cackhanded Hezbollah "media management"?
It's okay, most people get the point already about this dirty little war without posing children beside unexploded bombs.

BBC wrote:

The shell is huge, bigger than the young boy pushed forward to stand reluctantly next to it while we get our cameras out and record the scene for posterity.

OK; the BBC may not be pushing the kid next to the bomb but they're hardly discouraging the practice, now are they?
If the BBC journalists were there and witnessed Hezbullah media manipulation first hand, isn't that a story in itself?? "Lebanese terrorists put childrens lives at risk in campaign of deception" or something?

fly_agaric

flogen wrote:

OK; the BBC may not be pushing the kid next to the bomb but they're hardly discouraging the practice, now are they?

Very true.

flogen wrote:

If the BBC journalists were there and witnessed Hezbullah media manipulation first hand, isn't that a story in itself?? "Lebanese terrorists put childrens lives at risk in campaign of deception" or something?

It should be. I'm only guessing though. I doubt if whoever at the scene was doing the pushing announced to the BBC photographers that they were trying to get a kid in the frame with the bomb for Hezbollah propaganda purposes!

Hobbes

Lets not forget who put the bomb there in the first case.

flogen

Hobbes wrote:

Lets not forget who put the bomb there in the first case.

The war itself isn't the issue here; the tactics of the BBC is.

fly_agaric wrote:

It should be. I'm only guessing though. I doubt if whoever at the scene was doing the pushing announced to the BBC photographers that they were trying to get a kid in the frame with the bomb for Hezbollah propaganda purposes!

Probably not but the journalists have to be sensible enough to realise that there's few alternative reasons for pushing a kid next to an unexploded Israeli bomb; were they trying to compare the size of it or something?!

mike65

Lets not forget who put the bomb there in the first case.

No ma'm lets not :rolleyes:

Mike.

Mad Finn

flogen wrote:

there's few alternative reasons for pushing a kid next to an unexploded Israeli bomb; were they trying to compare the size of it or something?!

Well Duh!!

flogen

Mad Finn wrote:

Well Duh!!

Excellent point.

shltter

Who says the BBC asked for the boy to pose for the picture

The report makes it clear that the boy was pushed forward and that he was reluctant.

The story is not about Hezbollah media handlers just as a story about an unexploded katashu rocket in Isreal would not be about the Isreali media handlers.
The story is about unexploded munitions in residential areas of southern lebanon.

shltter

flogen wrote:

OK; the BBC may not be pushing the kid next to the bomb but they're hardly discouraging the practice, now are they?
If the BBC journalists were there and witnessed Hezbullah media manipulation first hand, isn't that a story in itself?? "Lebanese terrorists put childrens lives at risk in campaign of deception" or something?

Well that would be a very one sided headline probably more suited to Fox news
First of all the use of the word Terrorist unless you propose afixing the word terrorist to any mention of the IDF as well.
Secondly what is the campaign of deception are the bombs not really there or are you suggesting that the Isrealis did not put them there.
Thirdly the childs life is already at risk judging by the size of the thing standing back behind the cameraman is probably not going to make a huge difference if the bomb explodes.
Fourthly reading the story the safe place for that particular child would probably involve the BBC removing the child from Southern Lebanon completely.
Seems to me that what people dont like about the story is that it reveals the type of war and devastation that Isreal wreaked on these people.

Hobbes

mike65 wrote:

No ma'm lets not :rolleyes:

Mike.

My point is in a lot of these stories I am seeing "OMG how evil these press people! Showing dead bodies to others, or putting a child in danger having them stand near a bomb"

With that everyone tends to forget who put the bomb there to begin with and how pretty indiscriminate it was dropping into the kids home to begin with.

mike65

Thats what I would call a self evident truth. Maybe some people still need to be told...

Mike.

shltter

mike65 wrote:

Thats what I would call a self evident truth. Maybe some people still need to be told...

Mike.

Speaking of truth have you found any evidence for your claim that the BBC asked for a boy to pose with a live bomb

mike65

My claim? Its the BBCs!

The shell is huge, bigger than the young boy pushed forward to stand reluctantly next to it while we get our cameras out and record the scene for posterity.

Mike.

shltter

mike65 wrote:

My claim? Its the BBCs!



Mike.

And where in that sentence does it say that the BBC asked him to pose they say he was pushed forward and that he was reluctant I dont see anywhere in that sentence that they say they asked him to be pushed forward or that they asked him to pose

mike65

Well they did'nt decline the offer to take the pic, that good enough for me. They could have said no or simply left the scene and not encouraged such carry on but they stayed so they could get thier precious pictures. You could speculate if they had'nt been there the boy and his 'handler' (family/some Hezbollah heavy perhaps?) would'nt have been in there either until it was dealt with (by Hezbollah).

Mike.

shltter

mike65 wrote:

Well they did'nt decline the offer to take the pic, that good enough for me. They could have said no or simply left the scene and not encouraged such carry on but they stayed so they could get thier precious pictures. You could speculate if they had'nt been there the boy and his 'handler' (family/some Hezbollah heavy perhaps?) would'nt have been in there either until it was dealt with (by Hezbollah).

Mike.

Not declining to take a photograph is no where near the same thing as setting a photograph up which is what you alledged.
The BBC did exactly what they are supposed to do they recorded the event and told the story behind it.

You could speculate plenty of things for example I could speculate that the boy sleeps in the room next door and if the bomb goes off he will be killed whether the BBC is present or not.
I could also speculate that a photo like this demonstrates that ordinary civilian lebanese are living in a highly dangerous situation and might convince some people in the international community that they should help them to make the place a little safer by perhaps sending bomb disposal teams.