BBC Cowers Before Israel...Again

Byrnzie

Cool of this dude to call the BBC to account over their wimpish behaviour:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/ap ... bc-apology

Frankie Boyle criticises 'cowardly' BBC for Israel joke apology

BBC apologised for joke in which comedian compared Palestine to a cake being 'punched to pieces by a very angry Jew'

Sam Jones - guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 April 2010


Frankie Boyle has accused the BBC Trust of cowardly behaviour after it apologised for a joke in which he compared Palestine to a cake being "punched to pieces by a very angry Jew".

The controversial comedian published an open letter on chortle.co.uk today, describing the situation in Palestine as "in essence, apartheid", and lamenting the fact that the BBC was "now cravenly afraid of giving offence and vulnerable to any kind of well-drilled lobbying".

Boyle said he had only learned of the "rebuke" from newspaper reports.

The entire joke, which he made on the Radio 4 programme Political Animal, ran: "I've been studying Israeli army martial arts. I now know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back. People think that the Middle East is very complex but I have an analogy that sums it up quite well. If you imagine that Palestine is a big cake, well … that cake is being punched to pieces by a very angry Jew."

Following a complaint from a listener who said the comments were "disgusting" and "antisemitic", the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee investigated and apologised. The committee said it endorsed the editorial complaints unit's finding about the use of the word "Jew".

It said: "As a result, the committee wished to apologise to the complainant on behalf of the BBC for any offence the remark may have caused him and other listeners to the programme."Boyle criticised the corporation's governing body for its actions. "I think the problem here is that the show's producers will have thought that Israel, an aggressive, terrorist state with a nuclear arsenal, was an appropriate target for satire," he wrote. " The Trust's ruling is essentially a note from their line managers. It says that if you imagine that a state busily going about the destruction of an entire people is fair game, you are mistaken. Israel is out of bounds."

Noting that the BBC had refused to broadcast a humanitarian appeal in 2009 to help the people of Gaza rebuild their homes, he added: "It's tragic for such a great institution but it is now cravenly afraid of giving offence and vulnerable to any kind of well-drilled lobbying. I told the jokes on a Radio 4 show called Political Animal. That title seems to promise provocative comedy with a point of view. In practice the BBC wish to deliver the flavour of political comedy with none of the content."

The BBC Trust said it had nothing to add to its previous statement.

Byrnzie

http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=5750

Contoversial comedian, Frankie Boyle, has written an open letter to the BBC Trust after it upheld a complaint alleging a recent sketch he performed on Radio 4 over the issue of Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians was anti-semitic:

'Obviously, it feels strange to be on the moral high ground but I feel a response is required to the BBC Trust’s cowardly rebuke of my jokes about Palestine.As always, I heard nothing from the BBC but read in a newspaper that editorial procedures would be tightened further to stop jokes with anything at all to say getting past the censors.

In case you missed it, the jokes in question are: ‘I’ve been studying Israeli Army Martial Arts. I now know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back. People think that the Middle East is very complex but I have an analogy that sums it up quite well. If you imagine that Palestine is a big cake, well…that cake is being punched to pieces by a very angry Jew.’

I think the problem here is that the show’s producers will have thought that Israel, an aggressive, terrorist state with a nuclear arsenal was an appropriate target for satire. The Trust’s ruling is essentially a note from their line managers. It says that if you imagine that a state busily going about the destruction of an entire people is fair game, you are mistaken. Israel is out of bounds.

The BBC refused to broadcast a humanitarian appeal in 2009 to help residents of Gaza rebuild their homes. It’s tragic for such a great institution but it is now cravenly afraid of giving offence and vulnerable to any kind of well drilled lobbying.

I told the jokes on a Radio 4 show called Political Animal. That title seems to promise provocative comedy with a point of view. In practice the BBC wish to deliver the flavour of political comedy with none of the content.

The most recent offering I saw was BBC Two’s The Bubble. It looked exactly like a show where funny people sat around and did jokes about the news. Except the thrust of the format was that nobody had read the papers. I can only imagine how the head of the BBC Trust must have looked watching that, grinning like Gordon Brown having his prostrate examined.

The situation in Palestine seems to be, in essence, apartheid. I grew up with the anti apartheid thing being a huge focus of debate. It really seemed to matter to everybody that other human beings were being treated in that way. We didn’t just talk about it, we did things, I remember boycotts and marches and demos all being held because we couldn’t bear that people were being treated like that.

A few years ago I watched a documentary about life in Palestine. There’s a section where a UN dignitary of some kind comes to do a photo opportunity outside a new hospital. The staff know that it communicates nothing of the real desperation of their position, so they trick her into a side ward on her way out. She ends up in a room with a child who the doctors explain is in a critical condition because they don’t have the supplies to keep treating him. She flounders, awkwardly caught in the bleak reality of the room, mouthing platitudes over a dying boy.

The filmmaker asks one of the doctors what they think the stunt will have achieved. He is suddenly angry, perhaps having just felt at first hand something he knew in the abstract. The indifference of the world. ‘She will do nothing,’ he says to the filmmaker. Then he looks into the camera and says, ‘Neither will you’. I cried at that and promised myself that I would do something. Other than write a few stupid jokes I have not done anything. Neither have you.'

Pepe Silvia

thanks for posting that, that's really cool of him.

here's an episode of dispatches on how strong the israel lobby is in the uk, just as bad as it is here apparently...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H88gVDrIlPs

Dispatches investigates one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain, which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel.

Despite wielding great influence among the highest realms of British politics and media, little is known about the individuals and groups which collectively are known as the pro-Israel lobby.

Political commentator Peter Oborne sets out to establish who they are, how they are funded, how they work and what influence they have, from the key groups to the wealthy individuals who help bankroll the lobbying.

He investigates how accountable, transparent and open to scrutiny the lobby is, particularly in regard to its funding and financial support of MPs.

The pro-Israel lobby aims to shape the debate about Britain's relationship with Israel and future foreign policies relating to it.

Oborne examines how the lobby operates from within parliament and the tactics it employs behind the scenes when engaging with print and broadcast media.

Byrnzie

Pepe Silvia wrote:

thanks for posting that, that's really cool of him.

here's an episode of dispatches on how strong the israel lobby is in the uk, just as bad as it is here apparently...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H88gVDrIlPs

Dispatches investigates one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain, which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel.

Despite wielding great influence among the highest realms of British politics and media, little is known about the individuals and groups which collectively are known as the pro-Israel lobby.

Political commentator Peter Oborne sets out to establish who they are, how they are funded, how they work and what influence they have, from the key groups to the wealthy individuals who help bankroll the lobbying.

He investigates how accountable, transparent and open to scrutiny the lobby is, particularly in regard to its funding and financial support of MPs.

The pro-Israel lobby aims to shape the debate about Britain's relationship with Israel and future foreign policies relating to it.

Oborne examines how the lobby operates from within parliament and the tactics it employs behind the scenes when engaging with print and broadcast media.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

catefrances

yeah that was so offensive. almost as offensive as being corralled like cattle and treated with less dignity than one does a farm animal.

Pepe Silvia

catefrances wrote:

yeah that was so offensive. almost as offensive as being corralled like cattle and treated with less dignity than one does a farm animal.

'all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.'