Arab Media Watch
23 January 2009

Please complain to the BBC for blocking free prime-time TV airtime for a nationwide appeal for money to help “the desperate plight” of the people of Gaza. The appeal is from the Disasters Emergency Committee – made up of the 13 biggest aid charities, including the British Red Cross, Save the Children, Oxfam and Christian Aid – which said that “the devastation wrought in the Gazan territory was so huge that British aid agencies were compelled to act.”

“The broadcast would have highlighted the plight of thousands of victims, including many children, who are homeless and without food, power and water,” wrote social affairs correspondent Rosemary Bennett and Patrick Foster in the Times. “By convention, if all broadcasters do not agree to carry the appeal, none does.”

The BBC’s decision will leave aid agencies with “a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations,” wrote Jenny Percival in the Guardian, who described it as “a rare breach of an agreement dating to 1963.”

[Read More]

Update:
RAPID RESPONSE MEDIA ALERT: THE BBC REFUSES TO BROADCAST GAZA CHARITY APPEAL

Update:
This is the Gaza aid appeal the BBC and SKY refused to air

Originally broadcast on 16 January 2009
[France 24 link | YouTube link | hat tip]

Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News, 22 January 2009

Inevitably, several caveats are in order.  A “presumption of disclosure” really only applies to records that are potentially subject to discretionary release, which is a finite subset of secret government information.  Vast realms of information are sequestered behind classification barriers or statutory protections that remain unaffected by the new policy statements.  “In the face of doubt, openness prevails,” the President said.  But throughout the government secrecy system, there is not a lot of doubt or soul-searching about the application of secrecy.

[Read the report]

Broadcast 19 January 2009.
[video link | hat tip]

Related:
22 January 2009
Jonathan Miller: White phosphorus controversy in Gaza

By Saul Landau, progreso-weekly.com, 22-28 January 2009
Read Spanish Version

On January 18, Israel and Hamas agreed to a weeklong cease-fire. Prime Minister Olmert declared Israel had achieved its objectives. “Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions. Its leaders are in hiding and many of its men have been killed,” said Olmert.

More than 1,100 Palestinians lay dead, more than a third women and children, countless more wounded and Gaza’s physical infrastructure destroyed or badly damaged. Thirteen Israelis died. Hamas still rules Gaza — from within, but has no control of its borders — and presumably can still smuggle weapons in from Egypt.

The truce is beyond shaky as President Obama takes office with an unqualified “I support Israel” policy and a core of Israeli kiss-asses for advisers (Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk as examples).

[Read the article]