Tag Archives: ‘In Pictures’

Jan 11 2013

Disproportional representation: every (BBC chosen) picture tells a story

h/t Dan

Even the highest estimates – and there is plenty of conflicting opinion on the subject – put those belonging to ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) streams at about 10% of the total population of Israel. 

Much of the foreign media, however, has a tendency to disproportionately feature the ultra-Orthodox in pictures used to illustrate articles about Israel, thus creating a misleading impression of the make-up of the country’s population. The BBC is no exception. 

Take this “In Pictures” item from January 9th 2013 entitled “Storms sweep Middle East” for example. Four of the eleven pictures featured were taken in Israel – one in Tel Aviv, two in Jerusalem and one in the Golan Heights. 

Storms 1

Storms 2

Storm 3

Storms 4

The first three pictures are credited to Reuters. Perhaps, one might think, the BBC pictures editor had no choice: maybe those were the only pictures available.

Well it just so happens that Reuters is running a similar feature on its own website and the first and third pictures used by the BBC also appear there. But alongside them are many pictures which the BBC elected not to use. 

Reuters 1

Reuters 2

Reuters 3

Images can evoke a range of emotional reactions from the viewer, one of which is identification. Identification with the subject of an image in turn promotes empathy. The decision by members of the media to disproportionately feature pictures of people who represent a minority group within Israeli society and whose lifestyle, dress and customs do not promote a sense of identification – and hence empathy – for the vast majority of viewers, is therefore very significant. 

Once again, we see interesting editorial decisions from the BBC News website’s Pictures Editor Phil Coomes and/or his staff: decisions which contribute towards painting a misrepresentative picture of Israeli society. 

Jan 5 2013

BBC ‘tidies up’ Fatah celebrations

Fatah has been marking an anniversary this week, although the BBC only got round to reporting on the subject on Friday, January 4th when a rally was held in Gaza. 

hp 4 01

The BBC’s coverage included a television report by Wyre Davies, an article on the BBC News website and an “In Pictures” feature.

In all three items, it is stated that the rally marks the 48th anniversary of the founding of Fatah. 

TV report 4 01

Article 4 01

in pictures 4 01

That theme was also promoted by the BBC’s man in Gaza, Rushdi Abualouf:

Fatah Gaza 2

Readers familiar with the history of the Middle East will no doubt now be scratching their heads because of course Fatah was not founded 48 years ago in 1965, but in 1959. What Fatah is in fact celebrating is the 48th anniversary of its first armed attack on Israel which took place on January 1st 1965, but the BBC apparently does not consider that a ‘need to know’ fact for its audiences.

The latest amendment to the BBC News online article states that:

 “Fatah organisers decided to end speeches early due to “the huge number of participants and logistical failures”, Yahiya Rabah, a Fatah official in Gaza, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.

There were reports of clashes between rival Fatah factions, but none of violence between Hamas and Fatah supporters.”

Other sources indicate that AP actually expanded on the subject of those “clashes” – information which the BBC apparently did not deem necessary to include in its own report: 

“Yahiya Rabah, a top Fatah official in Gaza, said the rally was cancelled “due to the huge number of participants and logistical failures.”

But witnesses said one pushing match was between supporters of Abbas and partisans of Fatah’s former Gaza security commander Mohammed Dahlan, who was expelled from the party because of conflicts with Abbas.

Another Fatah official, who spoke anonymously because he did not want to embarrass the party, said the rally was cancelled because hundreds of Dahlan supporters jumped up on the stage and clashed with Abbas supporters.

Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Etta attributed the injuries to overcrowding and the excitement of the rally. Later, more Palestinians were injured when part of a stage collapsed. Youths also clashed and stabbings were reported. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said overall 55 people were injured, including three critically.

There was one death during the rally: A 23-year-old Fatah activist was electrocuted while trying to hang a flag on an electric pole.”

The BBC’s reports, however, are nothing but pastoral in tone, focusing upon images of yellow flags in the sunshine and the much-touted ‘reconciliation’ between Fatah and Hamas. The BBC’s report of the video address (from Ramallah) to the rally by Mahmoud Abbas states:

“In a pre-recorded message played on giant screens, President Abbas said: “Victory is near and we will meet you in Gaza in the near future,” AFP news agency reported.

“Gaza was the first Palestinian territory rid of [Israeli] occupation and settlement and we want a lifting of the blockade so that it can be free and linked to the rest of the nation,” he said from his West Bank power-base.”

However, the BBC fails to mention other aspects of Abbas’ speech, including his lack of distinction between Jerusalem as a whole and the eastern neighbourhoods of the city where the PA is said to aspire to establish the capital of a future Palestinian state: 

“Our people are living under an occupation and a siege and our mission is to unite our efforts to save our capital Jerusalem,” he said. “But victory is coming and we will see in soon, in Gaza.”

“He went on to praise the various Fatah “shahids” – militants who died a “martyr’s” death and made it a point to offer similar praise to Hamas militants who were killed, as well as prominent operatives in the other Palestinian factions.”

Among those terror leaders praised by Abbas were Hamas founders Ahmed Yassin and Abed Aziz al Rantissi as well as the founder of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Fathi Shiqaqi. 

Notably absent over the past few days has been any BBC coverage of the rallies held by Fatah in PA-controlled areas earlier in the week. On January 3rd a rally was held in Nablus (Schem) and in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, masked armed members of Fatah paraded through the streets undisturbed by PA security forces, as can be seen in this video.

Fatah rally Dheisheh

Licence fee-payers might consider it the obligation of a media organization committed to increasing its audience’s understanding of world events to fully report terror-glorifying parades and rallies – especially those organized by the faction which is supposed to be one half of the Middle East peace process.

Apparently, the BBC does not. Instead it condescendingly ‘tidies up’ events to present a sanitized view of the Palestinian street (literally and figuratively) to audiences around the world.  

Related post: What Jon Donnison did not report about the Hamas rally in Nablus

Dec 22 2012

Antisemitic trope on BBC comments board – again

Among the already moderated comments on this article currently on display in the “In Pictures” section of the BBC News website, and also promoted on its Middle East page, is the following one.

comm 1

This is not the first instance of offensive comments being allowed to stand on BBC comments boards, as we documented earlier this month and, as we wrote then, it is the BBC’s responsibility to ensure that its moderators adhere to its own house rules which prohibit racist comments.

Those ‘house rules’ also state [emphasis added] that:  

“The blog author or host does not usually moderate the content of the boards, although it is their job to keep the discussions relevant to the topic and within the BBC’s guidelines. They may close off-topic or other rule-breaking discussions, and sometimes make a decision on comments that have been referred to them by the moderators. They may also alert the moderators to rule-breaking comments that they see in the course of their work.”

In this particular case, that would appear to be the BBC’s Picture Editor Phil Coomes. 

Nov 24 2012

BBC pictorial portrayals of conflict in Israel and Gaza

On November 23rd 2012 an “In Pictures” photo essay entitled “Ceasefire” appeared on the homepage of the Middle East section of the BBC News website. 

The photo essay features thirteen photographs, of which nine depict Gaza and four are taken in Israel.

Four of the pictures from Gaza depict scenes of destruction of buildings, with interesting repeated – if transparent – use of bursts of colour against a largely grey background . One shows mourning women. Four other pictures depict Hamas leaders and operatives (finally available for photo-ops after eight days of being in hiding), with three of those pictures notably captioned as having been taken at funerals or mourning  events, thus adding a ‘human touch’. 

Of the pictures taken in Israel, none depict any kind of destruction or mourning.

One shows Israelis demonstrating against the ceasefire in Kiryat Malachi, where three people were killed as the result of a direct hit by a missile on an apartment block.

The remaining three pictures all have a military theme, with any civilians pictured looking relaxed and happy. Two of the three once again suggest a linkage between the Israeli army and religion. 

In the three photo essays we have covered here recently (see here and here), a total of 35 pictures supposedly documenting the conflict have been presented. Twenty of those pictures were taken in Gaza (and one in Hebron), with only two of those images showing Hamas terrorists, both at funerals. Fourteen of the 35 pictures were taken in Israel. 

Of the total 35 pictures, damage to homes, buildings or property was depicted in 12 of the pictures from the Gaza Strip and in four of the pictures from Israel. Images related to injury or death of civilians were depicted in seven of the photographs taken in Gaza, but in none of the photographs from Israel.

From the fourteen pictures taken in Israel, eleven show images of soldiers or other security forces. Four of those eleven pictures try to make a clear linkage between the Israeli army and the Jewish religion.  

If the BBC’s Picture Editor Phil Coomes would like to expand on the editorial decisions behind these photo essays, we would be very happy to publish his explanations here.  

 

Nov 20 2012

BBC’s “In Pictures” fails to meet editorial standards

In the the 2005 report up on our menu bar entitled “Pictures of Prejudice – a Pictorial Analysis of the BBC website” by Trevor Asserson and Michael Paluch, after interviewing the Editor at the time of BBC News Online, the report’s authors wrote:

“We were told that Day in Pictures is something of a by-product of the BBC website. A journalist from the website team will be asked on an ad hoc basis to be responsible for Day in Pictures for that day. The selection of pictures is then left to that individual. Pete Clifton accepts that Day in Pictures is under his overall editorial responsibility and that it is covered by the BBC Editorial Guidelines and the Charter which require accuracy, fairness and due impartiality and which also require that the BBC refrain from expressing its own views. However no individual mission statement exists for Day in Pictures and the journalist selecting pictures for the site is left to his/her own devices apparently without any real editorial control. The title of the site –Day in Pictures – seems to provide the only real guidance as to what the journalist is meant to do.”

Has anything changed over the seven years since that report was published? Are editorial standards of accuracy, impartiality and fairness now being met? A look at the feature entitled “In Pictures: Gaza – Israel Violence” located in the Middle East section of the BBC News website on November 19th would suggest not. 

Thirteen pictures are featured in the slideshow: seven taken in the Gaza Strip and six in Israel.

All of the pictures from Gaza show damage or injury of some kind. Two show explosions, three show rubble or destroyed buildings and two show dead or injured children. All but one of the pop-up captions attached to the seven pictures state that they are the result of an Israeli air strike. All the pictures show civilians or medical/emergency staff. There are no policemen or armed people and certainly no identifiable terrorists are shown. 

 

Of the six pictures photographed in Israel, three show soldiers and one a policeman. Only two show civilians – one in which they have their backs to the camera. Excepting one image, all the pictures show adult males. The photograph of children in an air-raid shelter presents a fairly calm scene. Whilst the pop-up captions on the pictures mention rockets, only in the first picture is it made in any way clear who fired the rockets and the word ‘Hamas’ is not mentioned at all. Apart from a very limited and insufficiently explained view in two of the photographs, damage is not shown and there are no pictures of dead or wounded people.

So would the average viewer take away a balanced and accurate picture of the ongoing events from this selection of pictures? The answer to that is all too obvious.