Daphne Anson: "He's An Activist, Not A Journalist": Time For The BBC's Jon Donnison To Rein In His Bias

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday, 28 October 2012

"He's An Activist, Not A Journalist": Time For The BBC's Jon Donnison To Rein In His Bias

"Frankly as a young, relatively inexperienced reporter, and the only western correspondent based in Gaza after one of my colleagues [Alan Johnston, pictured left, on a placard, behind Jeremy Bowen] was kidnapped for 3 months, I find emails like yours utterly demoralising....

Some of the stuff you write, week in week out, is almost as lacking in self awareness as the nonsense your Israeli counterparts bombard me with every day.

I am doing my best. But I guess you know better.

I can only hope you are not as patronising and condescending with your friends and loved ones. Perhaps you only reserve this pleasure for the likes of me...."

So wrote an obviously tetchy Jon Donnison, the BBC's Gaza correspondent, to a pro-Palestinian viewer who had found fault with an aspect of Donnison's reportage.

Donnison added:

"While you have been spending your time endlessly writing them, today I have been out meeting and interviewing Gazans about how Israel's illegal blockade is impacting on their lives. A car dealer, unable to import for more than three years who has lost millions. A shopkeeper whose prices are higher than london or new york because of the blockade. A 30 year old woman who is in agony every day because she can not get the medication for her arthritis. Children whose summer camp was set on fire this week by extremists."

That was in 2010, and since then Donnison appears to have gone native.

His bias against Israel is inescapable.

He has become as snide and tendentious in his reportage (and in his tweets) as is his boss Jeremy Bowen. He frequently allows his own value judgments to intrude, thereby flouting his obligation to be impartial.

As recent posts (here and here and here) by Hadar Sela on BBC Watch demonstrate, what Donnison gets away with in the bias stakes is outrageous.

".... I am a reporter and you are a campaigner. Our jobs are different. You know nothing of my personal views and this is the way it should be" [My emphasis]

Just one example of Donnison's propaganda

That's what he responded to his pro-Palestinian critic in 2010.

He needs to heed those words, and live up to them.

For his bias against Israel has become so blatant that the blogger and writer Chas Newkey-Burden, has tweeted (26 October) of Donnison:

"He's an activist, not a journalist" [My emphasis]

4 comments:

Empress Trudy28 October 2012 at 07:22
He's a war criminal not an activist. Apply the same standards we applied to Goebbels and Streicher. For every Israeli who's murdered there's another good reason to hang Donnison.
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aparatchik28 October 2012 at 08:44
He's trying to impress his boss, the wee welsh wizard who bombed on morning TV
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9685/britain-little-lies

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Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world.
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Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.
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