This confusing story (ht: Joel G.) is leaving me wondering whether it’s better to have an outright enemy, who makes no pretense at liking you give you the news, or an erstwhile friend, who makes no pretense at bashing you give you the news. Either way, you’re screwed. Perhaps that’s why Israeli satellite provider Yes dropped BBC World for—hold onto your hats—Al Jazeera English.
Although BBC World will still be available in Israel via cable, it will lose around 50% of its audience in the country as a result of being dropped by Yes.
Al-Jazeera English signed the carriage deal with Yes last month, but the damaging consequences for BBC World have only just emerged.
One BBC executive said: “We are disappointed but hopefully they will come back to the negotiations.”
The deal with Yes takes al-Jazeera English’s global reach to around 80m households.
The market for rolling international news is become increasingly crowded, with new rivals to BBC World and CNN.
In addition to the launch of al-Jazeera English, France 24 began broadcasting last week.
Gee, what a choice: The anti-Israel BBC, the anti-Israel al Jazeera, the anti-Israel CNN, or the anti-Israel France 24. And you have to love this understatement by the Guardian about the BBC anti-Israel bias:
The BBC has had a difficult time over its coverage of Israel, with regular accusations of bias coming from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides.
Earlier this year an independent panel was set up by the corporation’s board of governors to review its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Remember, the BBC refuses to release its report, which shows how bad the anti-Israel bias is. But we already knew that, didn’t we?
Al Jazeera will play to a more straightforward audience, anyone who treats it as legitimate has basically identified themselves.
By contrast many people like to pretend the BBC is a legitimate news service, better to get rid of something that has the veneer of legitimacy for the unvarnished hate and bigotry.
I’d rather hear from David Duke than Pat Buchanan, Osama Bin Laden than CAIR and Hamas than Abbas. At least that way people know exactly what they’re getting.
Thanks for the hat tip. I would prefer the open enemy such as al-Jazeera rather then the one who claims to be neutral but is a vicious lying pack of pond scum like the BBC is.
Since none of them deliver reliable information anyway, I wonder why we don’t just run cartoons during those time slots instead?
I suppose it is fair warning to hear what an open enemy wants the world to believe, as long as we don’t take their narrative too seriously ourselves.