BBC Says Rafik Hariri And Hizbullah’s Imad Mughniyeh ‘Great National Leaders’

THE Jerusalem Post reports:

In an uncommon act of journalistic contrition, the BBC has apologized for equating former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh as “great national leaders.”

The BBC took the unusual step after Don Mell, the Associated Press’s former photographer in Beirut, lambasted the parallel, drawn by BBC correspondent Humphrey Hawkesley in a BBC World report last Thursday, as “an outrage” and “beyond belief.”

American journalist Mell was held up at gunpoint by Mughniyeh’s men as his colleague Terry Anderson, AP’s chief Middle East correspondent, was kidnapped in Beirut in March 1985.

The BBC issued a statement Friday acknowledging that “the scripting of this phrase was imprecise.”

A little Britsh understatement. And now over to Jenny for the global warming update for your region…

Anorak

Posted: 18th, February 2008 | In: TV & Radio, War On Terror Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink