How the media works - The BBC...
Just spotted this, an item on the BBC site about a sectarian killing .
Now we all know that the BBC doesn't like using the 'M' or 'I' words when referring to the July 2005 homicide bombers, but they now seem to be going still further: a tale of what the plod are calling a sectarian atack in Londonderry that does not mention whether it was Protestant on Catholic, Catholic on Protestant, or for all one would know from reading it Mithraist on Ancestor Worshipper. Really helpful people - do keep up the good work.
Now we all know that the BBC doesn't like using the 'M' or 'I' words when referring to the July 2005 homicide bombers, but they now seem to be going still further: a tale of what the plod are calling a sectarian atack in Londonderry that does not mention whether it was Protestant on Catholic, Catholic on Protestant, or for all one would know from reading it Mithraist on Ancestor Worshipper. Really helpful people - do keep up the good work.
Labels: BBC
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on Monday, July 17, 2006 at 12:58 am.
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I would say it is bad, sloppy reporting. You have to remember the five Ws when writing a story - who, what, where, why, when.
This is actually progress of sorts.
Not so long ago, the BBC happily juxtaposed 'Protestant' with 'terrorist', such that in the public consciousness the two became virtually synonymous, to the enormous detriment of the term 'Protestant'. Conversely, whenever Catholics were involved in violence, the BBC opted for the term 'Nationalist terrorist', as if 'Catholic terrorist' was an oxymoron. Certainly, the IRA have never been called Catholic terrorists by the BBC, while Unionist terrorist groups have regularly been termed 'Protestant'. After 30 years of this, to be Protestant is increasingly viewed as being narrow-minded and bigoted; to be Catholic is to be enlightened. Blair reiterated this in a recent speech, mentioned here.
I certainly recall heavy use of the form 'protestant paramilitary', but never 'catholic paramilitary'. As we should all be well aware, there are both Catholic Unionists and Protestant Republicans, or there certainly were.
One might also note that Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams are routinely treated as being equivalent figures.
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