Thursday, January 31, 2008

Reply from the BBC

I will post my response to this reply in due course:


Dear Kebz,

Thank you for your comments regarding our coverage of the recent events in Gaza.

Jonathan Marcus' report was intended to outline the Israeli position on Gaza at a time when events and reporting were completely dominated by the opening of the border, the Egyptian reaction and response, and statements from Hamas. We feel it was an important contribution as part of the wider coverage which concentrated on the Palestinian perspective on the situation. These are just a few examples of features and reports of this kind:

A diary by a correspondent in Gaza:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7212945.stm

Correspondents from either side of the border:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7209495.stm

A correspondent looking at the issue from the Egyptian point of view http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7210650.stm

A dairy, in four parts, from a Palestinian aid worker in Gaza:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7215844.stm

An analysis arguing that Hamas has put itself centre stage again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7217020.stm

There were a whole range of picture galleries:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7207596.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7204102.stm

Just before the opening of the border we had a correspondent in Gaza for the website. These are two of his reports:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7199335.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7199335.stm

We do not have a permanent English language correspondent in Gaza. You may remember the BBC correspondent there was kidnapped. We do have a Palestinian reporter, producers and researchers, and the BBC regularly deploys in Gaza. We also have a permanent correspondent in Ramallah. The main bureau is in Jerusalem.

We have raised the issue of collective punishment many times. You can find mentions by putting it in the search engine alongside the word "Gaza".

We report all deaths in the Israeli Palestinian conflict - civilian, militant and military. We do not publish ad running toll. We do report annual figures when they are made available by researchers: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7165652.stm

We do our very best to treat this and all other news stories with scrupulous fairness and accuracy. We do not accept your criticism that we are somehow one-sided or reprinting Israeli propaganda.

Best regards,


Tarik Kafala
Middle East editor
BBC News website

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home