BBC Bias - Iraqi vs Palestinian Elections

Yesterday I posted about the BBC's despair at America's success in providing Iraq's first free elections in over 30 years (or more). A fact I pointed out and not the BBC.

A commenter, chevalier de st george, commenting in Biased BBC, suggested I contrast the BBC's reporting on the Palestinian elections and the Iraqi elections. Good idea.

The BBC article concerning Iraqi expats registering to vote in the forthcoming elections was titled gloomily "Grey day dawns for Iraqi voters". The first paragraph has this to say:

Later this month tens of thousands of UK-based Iraqis are expected to vote in the first elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein. But how keen are they to vote and what do they think the future holds?

In my post I had this to say about the above paragraph:

"First elections since the fall of Saddam"? Gee Claire, care to tell us when, during Saddam's dictatorship, the Iraqis last voted freely?

More gloom; notice how she implies there might not be much enthusiasm for these elections when she asks "how keen are they to vote...?

The question, "...what do they think the future holds?", on its' own is a fair question to ask. But in this context of gloom Claire has set out, I think it is fair to say she means to imply an uncertain future.

Claire continued with her gloomy picture:

North London, on a dark, miserable morning hardly seemed right for the "bright new dawn of democracy" for Iraq.

[Note the sarcastic quote marks, as if to say, "yeah, that'll be right".]

But under grey skies, off a grey road, inside the concrete walls of Wembley Conference Centre exhibition hall 1, the atmosphere was warm enough

Now how did the BBC portray the Palestinians prior to their election?

Q&A: Palestinian elections

No gloom here, you got questions we got answers, is the matter of fact BBC headline.

And note the upbeat tone and positive assessment in the first paragraph.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are voting in elections to install a new leadership who could launch a new era of peace making with Israel. The BBC News website answers the key questions about the vote.

The Palestinians are installing a new leadership and launching a new era of peace while the BBC answers the key questions.

While the Iraqis are voting for "something" for the first time in nearly two years, if you use the BBC's benchmark of "since the fall of Saddam Hussein", instead of the more accurate in over 30 years.

In the opening paragraph we are told the Palestinians are voting "to install a new leadership". So what's the first question in this Q&A session?

What is the election for?

The Palestinian presidential election is being held to appoint a successor to the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who died on 11 November.

Do you honestly think no one knew that, given the huge and favorable coverage the BBC relentlessly gives to all things Palestinian? Or in light of all the media coverage of Arafat's death and these forthcoming elections?

So why point it out? Because the BBC are cheer leading the Palestinians.

So what are the Iraqi elections for? We all know due to the wide media coverage of Iraq. But notice how, unlike in the Palestinian article where we are told twice in the opening paragraphs that their elections are about leadership, we are never told directly by the BBC what the Iraqi elections are for. Not until the end are we told, and then simply, in a quote from an Iraqi.

"Voting gives us the opportunity to choose the people who will be in government in the future...."

No cheer leading for the Iraqi leadership, just someone "will be in government".

The Palestinian article goes on to name the top 8 candidates for the post of President.

The Iraqi article does not mention a single candidate for President. Instead the BBC remind us twice who the last leader was - Saddam.

The Palestinian article ends upbeat with a hope for peace.

Much of the international community appears to be banking on a victory for Mahmoud Abbas and for that victory to enable a new round of peace-making.

We are given no such hope in the Iraqi election article and the BBC does not "answer the key questions".
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