Biased BBC?
David T criticises this sentence on the BBC website,""US officials say that since the fall of Saddam, 300,000 bodies have been found buried in mass graves.
They say they are the victims of campaigns against Kurds, Shias, and Saddam's political enemies. "
implying that the BBC is implying that their existence is a matter of debate, not fact.
In an update he notes that perhaps there is some debate to be had, but nevertheless;
"What strikes me as notable about this article is that the BBC has identified "US officials" as those with the relevant belief - implying that they are the only ones to take the view that the mass graves substantially contain Saddam's victims - when in fact we know that the same conclusion has been reached by very many others."
Whether or not it's 100% accurate it strikes me as sub Biased-BBC textual analysis. Certainly it's possible if you wanted to imply that only US officials believe in the mass graves you would say "US officials say/they say" but then again such a sentence is perfectly consistently with merely wishing to be more specific, and less passive, than saying "Those in Saddam's mass graves are believed to be victims of...", which is David T's preferred way of saying it.
Also, and this is a classic sign it should be on Biased BBC, you can imagine the exact opposite being said if the BBC had put 'It is believed', with the complaint being that the BBC is pretending some believe it and others don't, and there's no way of choosing between them, because the BBC sees no moral difference between US officials and genocide doubters.
Finally a good check is to see what that famously sceptical of US claims newsite FoxNews.com had to say on the same issue,
"A team of Justice Department prosecutors and investigators has been gathering evidence for a war crimes case against Saddam, while other international groups have been sifting through the mass graves where U.S. officials say 300,000 victims of Saddam's regime were buried. "
Does everyone hate America?
posted by Matthew @ 4/21/2004 04:07:00 PM
Comments: 0
