Hoax Links… — Just as the BBC was getting high marks for the terrible story about children being used as Guinea pigs, this happens. The entire news organization is suckered into a fake interview and they run it as news. It’s so pathetic. But his happens a lot especially with the Internet as a go-between with phony domains and other trickery that seems to be missed by the mainstream media over and over. The joker who hoaxes employees (mentioned on this blog here) is a trend!
HAMISH ROBERTSON: As the world marks the 20th anniversary of the worst-ever industrial disaster in Bhopal, the BBC’s coverage of the story has left the organisation red-faced and searching for answers.
The British broadcaster, which like the ABC has had a long presence in India, claimed that the Dow Chemical Company was now ready to accept its full responsibility for the tragedy – and provide further help to the many thousands who still require medical treatment.
But the BBC has now had to make an embarrassing apology – admitting it was duped by activists seeking to increase the pressure on Dow to deliver compensation and clean up the accident site.
As of this writing I could not find any apology on the BBC website but did find a bunch of Bhopal commemoration stories such as this one. One can only assume that the BBC is still driven by a fervent anti-Americanism and easily suckered into bogus stories if they put the US or its people or its corporations in a bad light. A shame.
related link:
a primary group of wily activist hoaxers (hoaxtavism?), the YES MEN is here.
As a journalist, I have to hang my head in shame for a profession that seems to let its major players – CBS, BBC, or simply name your own scandal-plagued outlet here) get away with the journalistic equivalent of credibility-murder without so much as a slap on the wrist as punishment.
What ever happened to good, basic journalism? The BBC, long the mouthpiece of partisanship and slanted reportage, seems to be plumbing new depths here. As a consumer of news, I feel like there are fewer and fewer reliable sources of news. As a producer of journalistic content, I worry for the future of a profession I went into because I felt it was honorable and meaningful. The BBC’s latest adventure further erodes this for us all.
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
Actually, anyone who’s included the BBC, online or on-the-air, in their news bag for a sizable piece of time — recognized the decision to turn the “attitude” of the BBC to the Right when the managing directorship was decimated as a response to the last Lord Whatever’s “independent investigation”. All in the name of “fairness” to Blair and Bush.
Some damned good reportial staff and TV reporters were removed as part of the process. A couple of willing Bush ass-kissers were put in place in the Washington and New York Bureaus.
None of which has much to do with the quality of journalism — except that the palace coup was predicated on a need for objective and accurate reporting.
The Guinea Pig story might be overblown too…