Oct 2023
4:20pm, 18 Oct 2023
22,396 posts
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larkim
Absolutely; the very fact that people like me could pretty casually walk away from the news last night believing a "western state" could have targetted a hospital and killed 500 people says a lot about perceptions of Israel. tbh I expected following the reports yesterday for this to end up being reported as either a targetting error on Israel's side, or we'd be given something around "Don't believe what Hamas are saying, this was an important military base for Hamas which we've selected as a legitimate target". A Palestinian launch gone wrong was far lower down my list of expectations. |
Oct 2023
4:24pm, 18 Oct 2023
48,164 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Hiram Johnson (1866-1945) - a Progressive Republican senator in California. His actual quote, 'The first casualty, when war comes, is truth', was said during World War 1. He died on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Just like the quote and wanted to know who first said it. |
Oct 2023
4:25pm, 18 Oct 2023
3,458 posts
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paulcook
Not sure this link will work but some intriguing thoughts on the general reporting of modern news events. x.com I still think one of the main reasons for poor reporting is 24 hour news, social media and the ease for both good citizen journalists and purposeful misinformation has left traditional media grasping at keeping pace. Verification now becomes behind speed. |
Oct 2023
4:39pm, 18 Oct 2023
64,563 posts
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LindsD
Don't forget that there's also often translation involved.
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Oct 2023
4:49pm, 18 Oct 2023
15,632 posts
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jda
The BBC in choosing whose claims to air is implicitly making judgements as to their veracity. It was an error on their part and hiding behind "well that's what those guys said" isn't really good enough. Standard journalistic practice when airing an unproven allegation is to give the accused a right of reply, it would have been entirely reasonable to report the fact of the explosion/damage and report that Hamas accused Israel and vv. |
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Oct 2023
4:54pm, 18 Oct 2023
48,169 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Don't forget that there's also often translation involved. I nearly wrote "LindsD wrote a great blog about translation..." before looking to see who had written this comment! jda, last night it def felt like it was being reported as fact, or at least highly like, that Israel had bombed a hospital. All new information coming to light probably needs to be better qualified with "unverified reports of..." or "this party has accused that party, but we have had no response from..." etc. I agree, the take away last night from BBC (and other news media to be fair) was "Israel bombed a hospital". I completely accept that I am generally slightly biased with sympathies towards to people of Gaza and the West Bank, rather than the government and forces of Israel, just because of the vulnerability and suffering of the people in those places. However, if it said "a hospital in Gaza has been destroyed, with hundreds of lives feared lost. The source of the bombing is not yet known", I would probably still have jumped to the (probably wrong) assumption that "Israel dun it". |
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Oct 2023
5:09pm, 18 Oct 2023
64,564 posts
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LindsD
 Sorry - all about the translation today.
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Oct 2023
5:30pm, 18 Oct 2023
3,459 posts
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paulcook
An IDF/Netanyahu spokesman also initially tweeted that the hospital was hit by an Israeli strike, I think because they believed it was a target. Why they decided to post and quite why that tweet was quickly deleted is another guess. They had also warned people to evacuate the hospital. There was at one point a video of ambulances and other vehicles outside with lights and sirens continually going as a mark that they weren't leaving. |
Oct 2023
5:35pm, 18 Oct 2023
10,158 posts
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Fields
The BBC, being state media, are subject to heavy political influence from the govt of the day which must feed into their editorial lines and policy. This govt has placed their own appointees in senior positions, and also do not forget the periodic renewal of the BBC charter. This means the first goal of the BBC is always the survival of itself as an institution. Worth remembering on a similar note you might look at how NHS trusts / police forces / universities / any big institution you can think of prioritise their institutional survival and sometimes this means trying to bury whistleblowing / scandals etc to avoid the bad publicity - it’s often the cover up that gets you not the original problem |
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Oct 2023
5:36pm, 18 Oct 2023
3,460 posts
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paulcook
Channel 4 also reporting that Hamas claim the Israeli audio proof is a fake recording. G's post above (I used a misquote of it the other day) is absolutely spot on. I didn't realise the quote was so old. |
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