Sunday 11 August 2013

Jon Don goes down under


Jon Donnison's departure from his BBC Middle East brief was something of a relief. We weren't exactly fans of his reporting. He's been reassigned to Australia, where he'll doubtless bring his brand of BBC impartiality to bear on the present general election (/sarc, as we say on the internet). 

His arrival piece for From Our Own Correspondent thoughFrom little Gaza to chunky Australiahas given him one last chance (hopefully) to have a go at Israel:
With its wall, fences and watchtowers, Gaza is not a place for the claustrophobic.
There are neighbourhoods with some of the highest population densities in the world.
Thank God he's left Gaza. Lord 'elp Tony Abbott though!

Update: Daphne Anson, from Down Under herself of course, has a post about this. She's no fan of Jon Donnison's reporting either.

6 comments:

  1. Wasn’t Jon Donnison usually introduced as our "Middle East Correspondent”?
    Only according to the link provided by Daphne Anson the press release says he’s been “the BBC’s Gaza and West Bank correspondent for the past three years.”

    So if the M.E. correspondent is really the Gaza and W.B. correspondent, i.e. there simply to relay the Palestinian narrative, or to “tell your story” as Alan Johnston pleaded to the thugs that took him hostage, where’s the BBC’s M.E. correspondent tasked with telling the Israeli version of events? It can’t be Jeremy Bowen, Bethany Bell or Yolande Knell shurely?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The population density stories about Gaza have been around for decades and the goalposts keep moving. Gaza is no denser than 100s of cities around the world (around that of Montreal if we have to compare). Even the neighbourhoods with some of the highest population densities in the world. is so dubious you wonder what the point of the statement is. One list I discovered has Jabaliya Refugee Cammp as 21st on the list of most densely populated country subdivisions (30,000+ inhabitants per km²) in the world with half the density of the leader. Hardly leading the pack.

    One is tempted to ask Mr. Donison even if there are some really dense neighbourhoods, so what?

    In more detail Population Games: Who wins the Density Prize

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  3. sue:

    ....where’s the BBC’s M.E. correspondent tasked with telling the Israeli version of events?

    A guy called Rafi Berg reported for the BBC during the 2006 war. Name sounds Israeli. His reports were reasonable and balanced. Dunno what happened to him.

    Certainly none of the motley crew purporting to report on the conflict would recognise genuine journalism if it hit them in the face.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True Too,
      You might have missed this Biased-BBC thread on November 2012. Two comments under the name ‘soothsayer’ were posted towards the end of the thread by Mr Berg.
      I didn’t/don’t know what to make of them.

      "Raffi Berg
      
Middle East desk

      BBC News website
      
+44 203 614 xxxx
"

      Delete
    2. Sue, I had a look at the thread and I'm also baffled.

      Delete
  4. David Guy,

    The BBC will distort any facts it can to try to increase sympathy for the Palestinians and present the Israelis as brutes. Facts are unimportant to the propagandist. Innuendo is everything.

    ReplyDelete

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