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Britain
Brit broadcasters show cartoons on the telly
2006-02-03
Last night the BBC and ITV were among those who used fleeting images of the cartoons in news bulletins as a worldwide furore threatened to provoke violence and a trade boycott of European goods. The broadcasters' move came just hours after Europe's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, appealed to editors not to publish the cartoons, saying they were "bound to offend".

The BBC emphasised that the images were broadcast "responsibly", "in full context" and "to give audiences an understanding of the strong feelings evoked by the story".

The British Council of Muslims said it thought the BBC was acting responsibly in its "sensitive" use of the images. A spokesman said: "I think the BBC have a good journalistic reason to show the images. I would hope most British Muslims would recognise that whereas some of the newspapers are publishing the cartoons with a view to attacking Islam, the BBC is reporting how the story is developing, which is an entirely different matter." A spokeswoman for ITV News said it was showing the image "in the context of it being a news story".
Posted by:Seafarious

#2  "The British Council of Muslims said it thought the BBC was acting responsibly in its 'sensitive' use of the images."

Ah, now we get to the crux. It's ok to print the forbidden depictions of Mohamed if done with 'sensitivity'. Religious hypocrites. It is either wrong or it is not-otherwise, this is really about Islam demanding that others adore their deity.

Remember to sign the petition for free speech:

http://www.petitiononline.com/danmark/petition.html
Posted by: Guess who   2006-02-03 11:07  

#1  If the images were fleeting then the BBC offering cannot be considered as unbiased reporting, but only as appeasement. Unless someone can look at the images for long enough to fix them in their mind, they cannot form an opinion about them. But of course the BBC knows this, and they also know that the medium is the message. Hence, they didn't give the usual warning - "Some viewers may find images in this report disturbing" - because the images were of harmless cartoons rather than death and suffering, and so there would have been a surreal clash between the warning and the actual content of the report, the net effect of which would have been to make the BBC appear as ridiculous as the Muslim protestors themselves. No doubt they're pleased with themselves for managing to show the images "responsibly", but as usual it's pretty clear whose side they're on.
Posted by: Ban The BBC   2006-02-03 00:59  

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