GAZA Charity Appeal

De_man

Sky News has joined the BBC in refusing to show a charity appeal for the people of Gaza, but i can't understand it that ITV, Channel 4 and Five will all air the appeal, on behalf of charity coalition the Disasters Emergency Committee.

i can understand impartiality etc etc,:mad: but these people have nothing!!!


think i've had enough of sky bibi sky:P

Fratton Fred

De_man wrote: »

Sky News has joined the BBC in refusing to show a charity appeal for the people of Gaza, but i can't understand it that ITV, Channel 4 and Five will all air the appeal, on behalf of charity coalition the Disasters Emergency Committee.

i can understand impartiatiality etc etc,:mad: but these people have nothing!!!


think i've had enough of sky bibi sky:P

I think this is a pretty brave move, especially for Sky News. The BBC makes nearly all their revenue from licence fees so a drop in viewers from a boycott won’t affect them as much.
I agree with the appeal and I will be sending a few quid in, but I think these channels have got it right. They are news channels and should be impartial; if their impartiality is called into question then it takes away their worth.
As it stands, no one in Israel can dismiss the BBC or Sky footage as pro Palestinian propaganda, arguably a lot more valuable to those affected than the extra few quid the charities would have made from the airtime. Besides, this debate has already given it ten times more publicity than it would have had from the Beeb.

De_man

Fratton Fred wrote: »

IAs it stands, no one in Israel can dismiss the BBC or Sky footage as pro Palestinian propaganda.... Besides, this debate has already given it ten times more publicity than it would have had from the Beeb.

fair point

OhNoYouDidn't

Fratton,

Is the issue here not that the BBC have allowed disaster relief ads run up until very recently but were lobbied to not show this one?

The DEC is an umbrella if the major UK charities and relief organisations and they have decided to launch an appeal for a humanitarian crisis in Gaza- the BBC have nothing to do with that decision. But they have decided that this campaign is less worthy than Darfur for example. A disaster is a disaster.

wes

The BBC/Sky decision is appaling. There can be no excuses for it.

The impartiality argument is rubbish imho. What is going in Gaza is a disaster and asking to help the people there does not affect ones impartiality.

By not showing it, imho the BBC/Sky have shown they have very little humanity and quite frankly I think there impartiality has taken a huge hit by not showing this.

TMoreno

De_man wrote: »

Sky News has joined the BBC in refusing to show a charity appeal for the people of Gaza, but i can't understand it that ITV, Channel 4 and Five will all air the appeal, on behalf of charity coalition the Disasters Emergency Committee.

i can understand impartiality etc etc,:mad: but these people have nothing!!!


think i've had enough of sky bibi sky:P

I'll boycott the BBC and Skynews.

OhNoYouDidn't

wes wrote: »

The BBC/Sky decision is appaling. There can be no excuses for it.

The impartiality argument is rubbish imho. What is going in Gaza is a disaster and asking to help the people there does not affect ones impartiality.

By not showing it, imho the BBC/Sky have shown they have very little humanity and quite frankly I think there impartiality has taken a huge hit by not showing this.

Nail on head.

By the BBC and Sky making a decison overruling the disaster relief charities opinion on what is a humanitarian crisis destroys their impartiality.

Sky are under no obligation to be impartial, but the BBC are.

Shamefull decision made under political pressure.

wes

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Shamefull decision made under political pressure.

If anyone was pressuring them, I hope these people are exposed, so that everyone can see them for what they truly are.

De_man

this says it all

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/24/bbc-gaza-palestine-aid-appeal

Fratton Fred

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Fratton,

Is the issue here not that the BBC have allowed disaster relief ads run up until very recently but were lobbied to not show this one?

The DEC is an umbrella if the major UK charities and relief organisations and they have decided to launch an appeal for a humanitarian crisis in Gaza- the BBC have nothing to do with that decision. But they have decided that this campaign is less worthy than Darfur for example. A disaster is a disaster.

lobbied by who? all the pressure on them seems to be in favour of showing the appeal.

I must admit, I am not 100% in favour of their stance, but i can see their point of view. To us it is a very clear cut thing, there is a disaster going on in Gaza, but would being seen to support this appeal affect their credability?

Its a tough one, i'm glad i don't have to make the decision.

Benedict XVI

I think the BBC and Sky are spot on here.

The Israel/Palestine issue is very divisive and has become more divisive due to the recent fighting there.

For a major international broadcaster to show an appeal related to one side of the conflict they may be seen or accused by the other as being supportive to that side, which is an situation the BBC and SKY should not find themselves in.

Macha

The issue here is a lack of consistency.

If they're happy to broadcast Darfur appeals, what exactly is the difference here?

Soldie

I find it hard to see this as anything more than a publicity stunt, with the BBC using this as oppurtunity to try to reaffirm its 'impartiality'. Sky News are merely jumping on the bandwagon in an attempt to salvage their reputation from the gutter by associating themselves with the BBC.

It begs the question, though, how impartial can a media organisation be, and is it even possible to be completely impartial? It could be argued that by not broadcasting this appeal, the BBC are infact being partial - in broadcasting several other appeals prior to this, they understate the plight of the Palestinians by not broadcasting this one.

Benedict XVI wrote:

For a major international broadcaster to show an appeal related to one side of the conflict they may be seen or accused by the other as being supportive to that side, which is an situation the BBC and SKY should not find themselves in.

What then of the other instances of impartiality that they're guilty of? A trivial example, albeit clear-cut: their inclusion of Turkey in the country profiles section for Europe.

murfie

I can see how they need to be impartial, its their choice and needs to be respected.
Nice change from the pleas for donations to the Israeli suffering that you can see regularly on FOX news!! They must not be getting enough handouts from the US government.

OhNoYouDidn't

Benedict XVI wrote: »

I think the BBC and Sky are spot on here.

The Israel/Palestine issue is very divisive and has become more divisive due to the recent fighting there.

For a major international broadcaster to show an appeal related to one side of the conflict they may be seen or accused by the other as being supportive to that side, which is an situation the BBC and SKY should not find themselves in.

And whose side are they supporting by not showing the ad?

The DEC are made up of organisations like the Red Cross, Oxfam, Concern, Save the Children. It is they who have declared a humanitarian crisis and launced an orchestrated appeal. For the BBC to, in their own words, veto it is unprecedented.

Nodin

The Beeb are damned whether they do or don't.

Sky were never going to do it while Murdoch Snr is alive.

The thing is...this appeal is about two minutes long. I thought it was something like liveaid the way they were going on.

A Dub in Glasgo

A disgraceful decision by the people who run the BBC.

De_man

for anyone who might like to contribute towards the fund

the UK Disasters Emergency Committee website

http://www.dec.org.uk

paulaa

THis is what all the fuss is about. It would have been very simple for the BBC and Sky to put a disclaimer before showing it that it was not responsible for it's content or something like that.
I think what annoyed so many people was that their spokesman said that the aid might go to Hammas (paraphrased) Somehow I don't see Help the Aged, one of the charities involved, supplying anyone with rockets :P