Regarding yesterday’s story about the rather unsporting behavior of Eurosport, CNN, and BBC (which I posted about here), Paul writes:
The campaign to free Ron Arad, Maariv, and some corners of the blogosphere are steaming because various international networks – including the BBC – are refusing to air paid ads offering a reward for information about the missing airman.Duh! The BBC, as a publicly-funded broadcaster has never, anywhere, at any time, accepted paid advertising of any sort. That’s probably why they refused to accept the ads ……
That, in addition to this comment on another blog:
Good luck in your lawsuit against the BBC. Before proceeding, the intending litigants might note that as a publically-funded broadcaster, the BBC has never, ever, anywhere, accepted paid ads ……. That’s probably why they declined. In fact, they should know that already, before they call the BBC antisemites, Nazis etc. For people who are meant to be media-savvy, they ain’t lookin’ too smart.
While this is a valid point (although made in a rather snarky manner), it does not change the fact that the BBC did not respond. Even if you posit that the request was stupid to begin with, the BBC could have at least explained so in a diplomatic manner, especially given the good intentions behind the ad. So the “arrogance” argument still holds.
As for the BBC being anti-Semitic, I agree that this incident does not substantiate such a claim. But Paul should note that there is plenty in past BBC behavior to lend support to such suspicions.
