Thursday, April 3, 2008

How to Build an Artificial Image

In a report from London this week comes the news that Israel and Iran receive lowest ratings in the UK in a BBC poll, this for the second year running.

What a surprise!! With the attitudes of the media in the UK, is it any wonder. Published on Wednesday, the BBC World Service poll asked people to rate Brazil, Britain, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the US and the European Union as having a mainly positive or negative influence in the world.

Negative views of Israel fell over the past year from 57 percent, to 52%, while negative views of Iran's influence held steady at 54%, giving it the worst rating of the countries tested. Pakistan followed Israel with the third worst rating.

A more expanded report can be seen at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632388476&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A further indication of the total lack of knowledge about the true facts of Israel can be seen in a recent Youtube video where some of the answers of the man in the street beggar belief. See following video

As one commentator on Israeli affairs, Lorna Fitzsimmons of BICOM in London pointed out "This BBC poll shows that viewers don't really understand the core issues within the Middle East conflict, even after watching BBC coverage. Israel has a big challenge. People have such a limited time to digest news - never mind foreign news - that they build up perceptions based on a snapshot. When Israel is only referred to in terms of conflict, this only exacerbates the problem."

The constant biased reporting of the BBC and a number of influential daily newspapers constantly builds up an unbalanced image and a society that does not have access to the real Israel, only the artificial image projected by the media.

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