BBC isn’t infallible – and it’s official

AFTER strenuous denials that its coverage of last year’s political upheavals and demonstrations in Bangkok were biased, the BBC has at least gone on record to say that it doesn’t always get it right in other parts of the world.

In a recent newspaper interview, the BBC’s Director of News, Helen Boaden, admitted the corporation’s coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict has been “ignorant.”

At the same time, she denies its treatment of the Middle East crisis has been partial or biased, but has conceded that a BBC internal review in 2006, which criticized coverage for failing to portray ‘the complete picture,’ was “quite fair.”

Ms Boaden went on to defend the BBC’s policy of keeping its review findings secret, saying they are intended only for staff.

Here in Thailand, the BBC faced a barrage of criticism for the way its correspondents handled last May’s stand-off in Bangkok, with frequent suggestions that it favoured the Red shirts and their de facto leader Thaksin Shinwatra. The broadcaster denied these accusations.

Over the years, the BBC has faced many complaints that its reporting has been biased, from both sides, according to the Daily Mail. It gives an example of a correspondent who admitted she had cried as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was dying in 2004.

In a separate issue, the BBC was recently criticized for wasting money sending high profile anchors to cover major news stories. It was also panned for the number of correspondents it sends on such occasions, especially when compared to other news organizations. “Sometimes, frankly, we don’t get it right,” admitted a BBC spokesperson.