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The revolving door at the Baghdad Broadcasting Corp.

56 comments on The revolving door at the Baghdad Broadcasting Corp.

The revolving door at the Baghdad Broadcasting Corp.
: Well ain’t this a lovely coincidence. First…

The Arabic satellite TV channel al-Jazeera says its editor-in-chief has submitted his resignation.

According to an al-Jazeera spokesman, Ibrahim Helal said he had had “a tempting offer” from the BBC.

The charity BBC World Service Trust confirmed that Mr Helal was joining to work on a variety of media training projects over the next two years.

Thanks to a commenter for leaving that bonbon. Next…

Veteran British television presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk has quit as host of a BBC morning chat show following a row over anti-Arab comments he made in a newspaper article.

“I believe this is the right moment to leave the programme and concentrate my energies in other directions,” said Kilroy-Silk on Friday, a former Labour Party member of parliament.

The BBC had suspended his long-running Kilroy topical discussion show after the Sunday Express newspaper published an article by him headlined “We owe the Arabs nothing”.

In the article he asked: “What do (Arabs) think we feel about them? That we admire them for being suicide bombers, limb amputators, women repressors?”.

The Muslim Council of Britain, which had condemned Kilroy-Silk over the article, welcomed his departure.

Let’s add this up, shall we? So the head of an Arab anti-American channel is hired by the BBC at the same time that the BBC forces out a Briton who dares to criticize Arab states. The BBC isn’t clever enough to even care about appearances.

56 responses to “The revolving door at the Baghdad Broadcasting Corp.”

  1. Mike G Avatar
    Mike G

    That’s it, I’m not paying my licence fee. Oh wait, I’m American. That’s it, I’m not buying the DVD of “The Office”!

  2. g wiz Avatar
    g wiz

    This is why I voted for the BBC to win LGF’s Robert Fisk Award.

  3. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    Jeezus, are you right wingers still caterwauling about media bias?

  4. Susan Kitchens Avatar
    Susan Kitchens

    Interesting tidbit in the first story you mentioned, essentially describing (or implying) al Jazeera’s roots:
    “Mr Helal first joined al-Jazeera in 1996, when it was launched following the closure of the BBC World Service’s Arabic-language TV newsroom.”
    So there was BBC in Arabic, then that stopped, and al-Jazeera began. I wonder if there’s more of a connection between the two?

  5. Bryan C Avatar
    Bryan C

    Ideological bias aside (and that’s a pretty big leap) why would the BBC think the editor-in-chief of al-Jazeera was worth hiring? Aside from being conveniently located next door to the war zone, what did they do to distinguish themselves in terms of reporting? An awful lot of al-Jazeera reports were flat out wrong from any factual perspective.

  6. button Avatar
    button

    Oh, Jeff, aren’t you being a little unrealistic?
    Isn’t it better that he keeps busy with a fellowship at the Beeb than that he goes to work for someone like Barry Atwan, for example?
    When you consider the spectrum of Arabic Press out there, surely the BBC is not so bad.
    This guy Barry Atwan seems to have a very inflammatory effect on many Arabic readers who seem to regard him somewhat like a Pat Buchanon. Or maybe they consider him a bit of a crackpot.
    Anyway, at least they usually uphold some standards at the Beeb.

  7. Snowball Avatar
    Snowball

    Let us hope the British public is taking all this in and will voice strong opposition to paying the license fee that supports the BBC. (I can dream, can’t I?)

  8. Anthony Avatar
    Anthony

    Just for your information, given the licence fee comments, The BBC World Service is funded through grant-in-aid from the Foreign Office, which will stand at

  9. Rich Avatar
    Rich

    BBC and free speech, as visualised by “BBC Head of News Programmes, Peter Bell.”
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,59-966527,00.html
    Bollocks, as we often say round here.

  10. Michael J. Totten Avatar
    Michael J. Totten

    Jeezus, are you right wingers still caterwauling about media bias?
    Enough with the schtick, Sam. Whose blog do you think this is?

  11. angell Avatar
    angell

    Well, it could be worse. Look at who is working for The Guardian. Maybe the Beeb hired the Al Jazeera guy cause they are peed The Guardian got the scoop.:)
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1116855,00.html

  12. Peter UK Avatar
    Peter UK

    If the right are complaining about media bias and the left are not,it is logical to presume therefore, that the media is biased

  13. Richard Aubrey Avatar
    Richard Aubrey

    I suppose that this finishes the Beeb’s attempts at camouflage.
    Kind of convenient, although a bit late.

  14. JBK Avatar
    JBK

    I’m actually very curious, as some of the other posters have touched on, why is the right wing in the US so fixated on the BBC? It’s a network in another country, that you dont have to finance at all, or watch or listen to…why do Jeff Jarvis and Instahack and Andy Sullivan spend so much time detailing every imagined little anti-Bush or anti-US slight, and coming up with those silly little names… Baghdad Broadcasting Co. – what sophisticated humor by the way! But shouldn’t you guys be busy whining about the liberal bias of American networks? Hasn’t Dan Rather made you angry lately? Seriously though, why does your side go on and on about the Beeb? Why is it any of your business? Do you believe the US now should control the world’s media? Would appreciate a serious reply.

  15. Bill Jefferson Avatar
    Bill Jefferson

    Isn’t calling it “BAGHDAD Broadcasting Corporation” obsolete now that there is, you know, some media freedom there? (Unless Sistani repeats Arafat’s exercise of “one man, one vote… one time.)

  16. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    JBK: Well, I don’t want to open this can again, but I’m not right-wing. Even Mithras says so. And he knows.
    As for the BBC: It is distribued in this country. It offers its news online here. Its boss criticizes all U.S. media and holds up his organization’s standards above ours (ha!). It affects the world’s debate.
    Yes, the Beeb is fair game for anyone, of any nation or side of the debate.
    And add this: As a journalist, I am ashamed of the BBC’s behavior. It is bringing down the standards of my profession.
    Reason enough?

  17. Blue Avatar
    Blue

    I’m not a right-winger…but I see in the BBC an organization that is congenitally opposed to the interests of my country. It’s also opposed to the interests of YOUR country, Sam (assuming you are Brit), but you haven’t the wit to see that.

  18. angell Avatar
    angell

    The thing is–you guys actually believe it–I read Bernard Goldberg’s ‘Media Bias’–he wasn’t a rightwinger –he was left and worked for CBS. He just happened to be honest.
    Goldberg, who spent his last years at CBS in the doghouse for his 1996 Wall Street Journal piece, says that if these correspondents were to take a lie detector test as to whether they slanted the news leftward, they would deny it and pass with flying colors. Many of them don

  19. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    JBK: “Would appreciate a serious reply.”
    The answers to your inquiries should be self-evident; regardless, let’s start with one simple set of facts: the BBC purports to be “objective” (and therefore reliable); it obviously isn’t “objective” in any objective sense; yet it holds itself out as a reliable news source when it nothing more than a state-sponsored, publicly-funded propaganda machine as subjective as Pravda or any of Goebbell’s efforts.
    There’s more, but chew on that for starters.

  20. JBK Avatar
    JBK

    Tim and Jeff thanks for the at least non-frothing replies but you didn’t really answer the question — ok the BBC “purports to be objective.” You think it’s not. Again, why does that concern you so much? Jeff sorry, it may be distributed here or available online as most of the world’s media is (are?) but so what? 99.9% of Americans don’t get their news from the Beeb. I just seriously can’t figure out why your side loves to go on and on SO MUCH about a network of another country. If the British people watch it, why is that your concern? I actually read somewhere about a report done by a UK university, by the way, that said the Beeb was the most pro-war, pro-government of the major media over there, so I can just imagine what you righties would think about Channel 4 or whatever…anyway, it’s the scale of the constant whining I don’t get. Do you also bitch about the German or French or Italian networks by the way? I must have missed that. If it drives you as crazy as it seems to, there’s a simple solution: don’t watch the BBC – don’t watch their newscasts, dont watch Monty Python or The Office or Dr. Who or The Young Ones or Ab Fab, etc. At leaat when you guys whine about Rather or Jennings most people know who you’re talking about and can decide for themselves. But when you go off on the BBC, because of articles you’ve read that I notice usually are from the rightwing Telegraph (published by that moral beacon Conrad Black) it just seems pointless and more proof of how anything deemed anti-Bush by your side is automatically considered pro-Sadaam.

  21. Mike M. Avatar
    Mike M.

    I love JFK’s comment. Now Americans can be sneered at for paying attention to what the international media is presenting as impartial news and offering criticism. What a cozy sense of self-righteousness such hypocrisy must provide you. Baghdad Broadcasting Service? You find that indicative of an ignorant culture? How do we raise ourselves to the level of “Bush is Hitler” type sophistication? I do so much want to be Euro, I do.
    P.S. I am a liberal, have voted Democratic all my life except for the most recent gubernatorial in Maryland, and will definitely be voting for Bush.

  22. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    >Again, why does that concern you so much?
    Because they are all indoctrinated into thinking alike. Seriously. Look at any right wing blog and they are all bitching about the exact same things.

  23. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    >If the right are complaining about media bias and the left are not,it is logical to presume therefore, that the media is biased
    The left is complaining too. It’s actually rather silly and the only reason either side does it is so they can ignore, on the basis of media bias, any opinion they don’t like.

  24. Sam Avatar
    Sam

    >It’s also opposed to the interests of YOUR country, Sam (assuming you are Brit), but you haven’t the wit to see that.
    I’m not and the Beeb is not opposed to the interests of your country. It, like most major media, is a counter balance to the government that is in power. That has always been the job of the media; to keep watch on those in power, not suck up to those in power.
    The notion that there is a liberal bias, especially in America is ludicrous. After all, the supposedly liberal media bashed Clinton without hesitation, just as they are now doing to Bush.

  25. Sandy P. Avatar
    Sandy P.

    That’s a very easy answer, JBK. BBC radio used to have 140 million world listeners, now down to 110m.
    And decades of anti-americanism. Kind of like Kimchee’s radio.
    And we wonder why they “hate us.” Well, I don’t, never really did.
    Read the “cartoons” on Merde. My husband watched the CBC before the Iraq war, couldn’t believe what he heard. We watch world news on satellite.
    Read biased BBC. I’ve read it myself online at the BBC’s site. They have a real bug up their ass about Fox News, a little cable station w/barely 3 million US viewers. Just goes to show how clueless they are.

  26. infamouse Avatar
    infamouse

    “I’m not and the Beeb is not opposed to the interests of your country. It, like most major media, is a counter balance to the government that is in power. That has always been the job of the media; to keep watch on those in power, not suck up to those in power.”
    This is categorically false. It is not their job to suck up or oppose. It is their job to present the facts of the case. They do not do this. They are the Guardian on tv.

  27. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Look at any right wing blog and they are all bitching about the exact same things.”
    Unlike left-wing blogs.

  28. APM Avatar
    APM

    “I’m not and the Beeb is not opposed to the interests of your country. It, like most major media, is a counter balance to the government that is in power. That has always been the job of the media; to keep watch on those in power, not suck up to those in power.”
    I DO live in the UK & the b**b is opposed to freedom & democracy(is that not what the USA is about?)
    If it wanted freedom why would it try force us to be it’s slaves until at least 2016?The simple answer is that it can’t exist in a democracy,never has,never will(so they tell us!)
    If you Americans want to help us to bring it down,join the fight http://www.tvlicensing.biz
    After all the b**b has spread like a cancer round the world,it’s not just a threat to us Brits anymore.

  29. APM Avatar
    APM

    Sandy P wrote
    “Read biased BBC. I’ve read it myself online at the BBC’s site. They have a real bug up their ass about Fox News, a little cable station w/barely 3 million US viewers. Just goes to show how clueless they are”
    Q: Who owns it?
    A: K. Rupert Murdoch
    Chairman and Chief Executive
    News Corporation
    What else does he own ? That’s right BSKYB
    The reason the b**bs evil little empire is under attack.I mean which would you choose? BSKYB (offering lots of channels if you want them) or the b**b (offering to fine you

  30. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    JBK: “Tim and Jeff thanks for the at least non-frothing replies but you didn’t really answer the question — ok the BBC “purports to be objective.” You think it’s not. Again, why does that concern you so much?”
    Leaving aside (a now obviously pointless) discussion about reason, empiricism, epistemology, the enlightenment and the BBC’s willful misrepresentations, in a war in which more allies rather than less is in our (western civilization’s, that is) interest, the BBC’s mendacity objectively allies it with the enemy.
    I am concerned about our enemies and, of course, it’s allies.
    So, I trust you

  31. maor Avatar
    maor

    Maybe they hate the BBC because:
    1)It’s a real threat to the present US-UK alliance
    2)It has serious international influence
    3)They can easily judge the BBC, because it’s in English
    4)Government-sponsored Leftism scares them, even when it’s somewhere else
    5)Bloggers make a career out of mocking idiots, and the BBC provides a lot of material
    Happy?

  32. JBK Avatar
    JBK

    oooh big words from Tim, what a man! This discussion is sort of pointless, I guess. You and the other right wingers have determined that if anyone dares question Dear Leader they are – what was the fanous phrase – “objectively pro-Sadaam.” And I guess that means the BBC too in your eyes. I sort of feel sorry for the righties and how scared they seem. Read some of Lileks crap lately, and when he’s not doing the funny stuff about motels and diners of the 1950s, then he’s terrified and bellicose about how western civilization is about to end. I didn’t realize Minn. was on the terrorist target list, I live 80 blocks north of Ground Zero and somehow manage to get through my days without being so terrifed as these manly men of the right. Wish they would join the military instead of writing those snappy brave blog postings. This country ain’t going anywhere my friends. We survived Nazism and Communism and we’re going to survive this one. Hate to break the news to you righties but we will survive the evil – gasp – BBC too.

  33. button Avatar
    button

    Well, at least Helal didn’t go to work for Hiz’b’allah TV in Lebanon (‘Al Manar’).
    Let’s be grateful for small blessings– it could be a lot worse.
    So, let’s have a chorus of ‘Jolly Good Fellow.’ And then maybe Syria will get out of Lebanon… please, pretty please with sprinkles on top.
    Maybe we just don’t know how to dialogue with them.
    How come they don’t blow up the Syrians with thousand pound truck bombs? Because the Syrians would pull out all their fingernails? Maybe.

  34. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    JBK, we didn’t “survive Nazism and Communism,” we fought them. Not that I think you understand the distinction.

  35. JBK Avatar
    JBK

    To Andrea Harris, survive as in we beat them, you freakin’ moron. Don’t try and pull the usual right wing crap of wrapping yourself in the flag and twisting my words around. I hate to break it to the right-wingers, but some of us have had it with the sanctimonious and condescending nonsense aimed toward anyone who doesn’t agree with you; I understand we fought the nazis and the communists. We also love this country as much as you do. That doesn’t mean we have to genuflect to Bush or castigate any media organization that doesn’t suck up to him. Why doesn’t your crew just stick to Fox News and ignore the BBC, it won’t get your panties in such a twist.

  36. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    Oh my, guess I struck a nerve. You poor little boy.

  37. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    JBK: Let’s be civil, please. “You freaking moron” is not the kind of conversation you’d like in your house, is it? Disagree, discuss, but leave the guns at the door, please.

  38. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    JJ, sorry, I actually thought it might be over the line when I posted it, but I don’t think YOU realize how some of us have just had it at the condescension shown by lines like, “Not that I think you understand the distinction.” Or the questioning of our patriotism by some chicken hawk rightie because we dare to disagree with them. Your point is well taken, but I would just hope you would also call your little right wing fans in on their arrogance sometimes. Ah well, I can dream.

  39. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “chicken hawk rightie”
    Civility it is!

  40. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Ahh, so if someone insults me, I shouldn’t insult them back? Sorry, our side let you right-wing dolts get away with too much during the Clinton years, and then watched watched Bush and the GOP turn 9-11 into a partisan event. I really don’t think you guys understand the level of disgust that Bush et al are facing right now. Sorry, a lot of folks aren’t going to roll over for the right-wing thugs anymore. The party’s over

  41. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    Wow, and I hadn’t even sent the Black Helicopters to hover over his house yet. Score one for the Power of Rethuglican Evil!

  42. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Aww, Andrea Harris, that’s cute. Now go make me some eggs, toots; isn’t that what all you good little right-wing women do? Cook and clean the house. You all know women and those pesky darker skinned folks really should not be allowed to have political opinions. (cf Karl Rove handbook, 2002)

  43. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Ahh, so if someone insults me, I shouldn’t insult them back?”
    You could at least put some thought into it.

  44. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Angus, it wasn’t that big a deal or worth that much energy, I was really more interested in pointing out that your side seems to think you can do all the name calling in the world (read Free Republic or listen to talk radio on any given day), but if someone on our side does the mildest form of rebuttal, it’s somehow below-the-belt.

  45. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    It’s just that you’re not very good at it. Well, practice makes adequate.

  46. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Well, there you go again, just another slice of right-wing sunshine…dang, and people wonder why the GOP is called the mean-spirited party? Hey, I’ll type slowly this time, I wasn’t that interested in getting into a debate, I wanted to only point out the hypocrisy on your side (hard to believe I know, right-wing hypocrisy!), that you folks seem to get all aflutter if someone actually dares to stoop to your level and call some names back. Now, go back to bashing the BBC, that’ll show ’em! Another brave warblogger doing his duty, it’s cute really

  47. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    Or you could just rant some more. No problem.

  48. jbk Avatar
    jbk

    Rant? lol isn’t that your no-doubt hero Dennis Miller’s schtick? Sorry, I realize we on the left should just roll over and be called anti-American whenever we dare to disagree with Boy George, but that’s getting old.

  49. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    Plus right-wingers.

  50. Doctor Slack Avatar
    Doctor Slack

    Oh, angell. My heart goes out to you:
    I read Bernard Goldberg’s ‘Media Bias’–he wasn’t a rightwinger –he was left and worked for CBS.
    Reduced to hero-worshiping the likes of Goldberg. Brutal, dude. Here’s a hint: anything that comes out of the mouth, or off the pen, of Bernard Goldberg is about as one-tenth as credible as what Michael Moore could toss off on a bad day. And I say this as someone who thinks Moore is unreliable.
    Angus, buddy: the one-liner schtick is only effective if you’re good at it. The one-liners have to make sense and be pithy. You’re not there yet.
    And re: the thread topic — might as well actually address that while I’m at it — conspiracy theory about the Beeb is more damaging to the perps than the target. “Non-hating” mode needs to be engaged on this… but I’m not holding my breath… ;-)

  51. angell Avatar
    angell

    So, are you telling me all these lefties who write books are just liars and his quotes from real people are not true?Or only if the book is approved by your royal highness, is it aceptable? Why doesn’t a lefty sue him for misquoting? Are you implying that
    Goldberg misquoted Andrew Heyward? Prove it!! You truly are a pompous ass.

  52. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Angus, buddy: the one-liner schtick is only effective if you’re good at it.”
    And the 150-liner schtick is only effective if you can keep people awake. Good luck! ;)

  53. Doctor Slack Avatar
    Doctor Slack

    Or only if the book is approved by your royal highness, is it aceptable?
    How about “only if the book actually gets a few facts straight.” Of course, maybe I’m being unfair to Goldberg and the critiques and rebuttals of him by, say, Conason or Alterman are wrong. You’ll never know if you hold Goldberg’s screed up as religious scripture and refuse to read anything else; that’s of course precisely the kind of faux “thinking” that damaged the radical left so badly, and that it’s common in the mainstream right today should give you pause. But you know, do what you gotta do.
    And the 150-liner schtick is only effective if you can keep people awake.
    Hmmm, better, but still lacking a certain something. To be consistent, you should have tried something that implied you didn’t make it through my post. But then, I guess that would’ve made you look juvenile, since then why would you be posting a rebuttal?
    Barbed pseudo-humour is tough, no doubt about it. Keep working at it, buddy. ;-)

  54. Angus Jung Avatar
    Angus Jung

    “Barbed pseudo-humour is tough, no doubt about it. Keep working at it, buddy.”
    You bet, pal! :)

  55. randall stevens Avatar
    randall stevens

    Here’s what I sent as feedback to the BBC:
    B> aghdad B roadcasting C orporation, aka BBC, >where’s your FEZ ?????
    >England’s dead soldiers are spinning in their >graves. I won’t call you traitors because it >would be an offense to all other traitors.
    Rude? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.

  56. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    JBK:
    I thought you wanted a response to your question instead of an opportunity to go septic.
    My mistake.
    Sorry.