The Need for Water in Haiti

You can survive for weeks without food, but you can only survive a few short days without water.

Dehydration is a major issue now in Haiti, but on top of that there is a need for clean water. With infrastructure ruined a lot of the water that comes from pre-existant sources is now contaminated. So the option for many is either to not take the water and dehydrate or drink contaminated water and risk disease.

The DEC appeal lists some of the amounts that you may be able to contribute and what difference it makes.

If you haven't already please give.

Civil War in the BBC Newsroom

Subtly and very carefully bits of the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza Appeal have been slipping out from the BBC Newsroom even if the Director General Mark Thompson and the senior editors have taken the stance that is shouldn't.

The following clip from Tuesday Morning shows the newspapers add plus the phone and website address from the video itself over coverage of the story.



The fact that the newsroom are doing what they can to get the message out there is surely doing more to flaunt the impartiality of the BBC's reporting than if the appeal had been shown in the first place, separate and distinct from the news bulletin itself. It is making an absolute ridicule of the empty platitudes that the top levels of the BBC have churned out on air, in emails or interviews.

I applaud whichever members of the BBC family are doing what they can to get the humanitarian message across despite the shockingly biased and far from impartial decision taken by whatever level decided to ban the appeal.

BBC's Response Re: DEC Gaza Appeal

For the sake of balance after posting Sky's response here is the one I received from the BBC this morning at 5:36.

Thank you for your e-mail.

We note your disappointment at our decision
not to broadcast an appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee to raise funds
for Gaza.

We decided not to broadcast the DEC's public appeal because we
wished to avoid any risk of compromising public confidence in the BBC's
impartiality in the context of covering a continuing news story where issues of
responsibility for civilian suffering and distress are intrinsic to the story
and remain highly contentious. We also could not be confident that the aid
resulting from audience donations could reach those it was intended for at a
time of a fragile ceasefire and sporadic border access. We will of course
continue to report the humanitarian story in Gaza.

The BBC's
director-general Mark Thompson has therefore explained the decision in more
detail in a number of television and radio broadcasts and online at our Editors'
blog. Please follow the link to read his explanation in full:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/01/bbc_and_the_gaza_appeal.html

Please be assured that we have registered your comments on our audience
log. This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for
all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their
senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we
receive, are circulated and considered across the BBC.

Once again, thank
you for taking the time to contact us.

Regards

BBC Complaints

So nothing really new or exciting to add there then. They still are less confident than the DEC members that aid will get where it is intended and the continuing mask of responsibility.

One thing that does stand out was the line "We will of course continue to report the humanitarian story in Gaza" so that while the BBC admits there is a humanitarian story in Gaza it isn't prepared to give its viewers a chance to act on that in the most convenient way.

Also saying that "issues of responsibility for civilian suffering and distress" which remain highly contentious. I'm sure we can all see that 1,300 deaths many civilian against 13 death all military would be a hight contentious issue, only if you were wanted to be impartial about it in favour of the side with the least casualties.

Sky's Standard Response

I have heard back from Sky regarding my complaint about their stance on the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza Appeal. Working as I do in the customer services industry I can spot that this is a standard response. However, it is more than the BBC have managed so far.

Dear Stephen

Thank you for your message. John Ryley, Head of Sky News made the
following statement explaining our position on Monday 26 January 2009.

"The conflict in Gaza forms part of one of the most challenging and
contentious stories for any news organisation to cover.

"Our commitment as journalists is to cover all sides of that story with
uncompromising objectivity. We have provided, and we will continue to provide,
extensive coverage from Gaza and from the wider region on the conflict and its
human consequences for people on both sides. Our team is on the ground in the
region and will continue to cover the story in the coming days and weeks.

"The absolute impartiality of our output is fundamental to Sky News and
its journalism. That is why, after very careful consideration, we have concluded
that broadcasting an appeal for Gaza at this time is incompatible with our role
in providing balanced and objective reporting of this continuing situation to
our audiences in the UK and around the world.

"It is important to state that this decision is not a judgement on the
good intentions of the appeal. No one could fail to be touched by the human
suffering on both sides of the conflict, which has been the focus of much of our
own reporting in the region.

"However, the nature of an appeal is that it sets out to provoke a
specific response from the viewer. We don’t believe that broadcasting such an
appeal on Sky News can be combined with the balance and context that impartial
journalism aims to bring to the highly charged and continuing conflict in
Gaza.

"Unlike some other UK broadcasters, Sky News is widely viewed across
the Middle East. In order to continue to serve all our audiences, we must ensure
that our journalists can continue to operate effectively in difficult
conditions. This must remain the first priority for any news
organisation."

I appreciate that this is not the conclusion you would have liked us to
come to, but nevertheless I hope you will understand why we came to this
decision.

Kind regards

Viewer Relations

Three points I have to raise.

Sky say they are against showing the "appeal at this time" but the whole point of the DEC is to respond in prompt time to real emergencies as they occur. There is not later time that the DEC would be acting together to raise money for funds at this time.

Second as with the BBC they hide behind "incompatible with our role in providing balanced and objective reporting of this continuing situation". The situation with Israel and Palestine has been ongoing for years, centuries, even millennia if we want to be accurate about it. The fact that they deem the situation to be continuing also means that things could very easily still get worse for those who are suffering.

Finally "the nature of an appeal is that it sets out to provoke a specific response from the viewer" yeah it is there to play at people heartstrings to dig into their pockets and donate to alleviate suffering. If we pussy foot around people who cause that suffering because they may be offended to see just what collateral damage they have caused how is that helping anyone.

So at least Sky have responded even if with indefensible platitudes. But nothing yet from "MY" (as they like to remind me) BBC.

The DEC Appeal : The Video

This is the call for help that the BBC and Sky decided it was in "their" best intersts not to show.

For the best interests of those in Gaza may I encourage you to watch and consider what action you could take. Thank you.

Sky Falls in Over Gaza

Sky have joined the BBC is refusing to show the DEC Appeal for Gaza.

Adrian Wells, Sky's director of foreign news, said the station understood the good intentions of the charities seeking to publicize the situation in Gaza. He said:

"Let me say to those people who might be angry, people who might be passionate
about this, there is no question about Sky's commitment to reporting the region.
We've had our reporters there since the gates of Gaza opened. There is
absolutely no question of Sky viewers not being aware of the humanitarian
crisis."

That may be the case but unless you provide an alternative way for people to hear about how to donate to the appeal Britain's largest satellite TV provider has fallen in line with the one UK citizens all pay their licence fee for in stated that impartiality will be compromised.

As I stated earlier on today the DEC were going to distribute Aid impartially however the greater share would obvious got to the greater affected region, which in this case is Gaza.

What Partiality are the BBC Really Showing?

Just what are the BBC doing with regard to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Appeal?

Well reports in the Times say that the DEC had told the BBC that aid from the appeal was to be made available to Israeli victims of Hamas rocket attacks. So the claims of impartiality have no grounds for the BBC to uphold its decision to not show the appeal. Of course as agreed by the DEC two weeks ago little of the aid raised in this instance would go to Israel not from any sense of partisanship but based on the actual need and the proportional spilt between the two affected nations in this case.

So that only leaves the other excuse that the BBC have cobbled together in their brief statements of why they refuse to show this. That other point was that aid would not reach the intended victims. From utterances you hear from the BBC anchor to Tony Benn yesterday you can hear a line of questioning blaming this on Hamas.

On the other half of the two page spread in the Times and something I cannot at present find in the online section, is a report about just why aid and relief workers are not getting through. It is not Hamas that is the problem but the Israeli control on the border crossings that are still delaying essential supplies and workers from getting into areas where there are civilian suffering. By branding vast swathes of Gaza to be Hamas strongholds, which seeing as they won the last elections may well account for the whole of Gaza, they are stopping aid getting to the innocent. Before the conflict at least 500 Aid trucks were allowed into Gaza daily now it is 100.

Well the BBC if so much on its high horse it can shows some impartiality. What is must do is report the reason aid is not getting to those in need. It has nothing to do with Hamas and those that rule Palestine but has a lot to do with the continued control and restrictions placed on them by the siege now being carried out after the illegal occupation by Israel.

Tony Benn on the BBC

I know I am currently not linking to BBC related stuff, but for this I make an exception.



Hat tip to Caron