BBC Bias on Reporting Israeli Killer in USA

[Teddy Bear]

Just about every day I look through my Yahoo homepage showing the headlines of different media outlets. naturally including the BBC. This is one of the ways that I sniff out which story is likely to contain bias, or it's apparent from the headline that this is the case.

Yesterday I saw one of the stories with this headline 'Man held over US serial stabbings ' and in this first explanatory paragraph it tells that he was on his way to board a plane to Israel. Later in the article it explains that he was an Israeli that was resident in the US.

What struck me as odd was the section that this BBC article was listed in - the Middle-East section. Despite the fact that the story itself was in the US/Canada section of the BBC website, which frankly is where reference to it belongs.

Today I see the headline has been changed, it now reads Israeli man held at airport over US serial stabbings Once again it is listed in both the Middle-East and US/Canada section.

I don't remember ever seeing a headline where for example a Pakistani who had committed murder for whatever reason, had this fact put into the headline. In actuality, where a Muslim is concerned, the BBC will do their best to obfuscate this. I also don't remember any crime that was committed by an 'Asian' as the BBC like to bury the term Muslim, ever appeared in both the area the crime was committed, and their country of origin.

I think we all know what makes the difference here.

UPDATE:

This gets even better (hat-tip Sue at B-BBC Blog)

According to ABC News, this accused murderer and racist wasn't just an Israeli - he was an Israeli-Arab. But trust the BBC to omit that particular detail - it sounds so much better for them to leave it as Israeli.

[Teddy Bear]

Contrast the above story with this one. Notice how far down the article you get before you know that it was a Palestinian who was firing the shots. Wonder why that is....

'Shots fired' at Turkey's embassy in Israel
Shots have been fired at the Turkish embassy in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Israeli police say.

There are reports that at least one person was injured.

An Israeli official told the BBC that two hostages had been taken by a man who entered the embassy, but were later freed. The official said the man was shot by the embassy's security guards.

The Israeli foreign ministry has identified the man as a Palestinian from the West Bank named Nadim Injaz.

There are unconfirmed reports that he was demanding asylum in Turkey.

Israeli police said the embassy's security staff were handling the incident, but that the area had been sealed off and they were standing by to assist.

Television pictures showed Israeli police and ambulances outside the embassy building, on Hayarkon street, near the seafront.

Relations between Turkey and Israel have been poor since May, when nine Turks were killed in an Israeli commando raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli official said the Mr Injaz retreated to an upper floor of the embassy building after being shot and freeing his hostages, the Turkish consul and his wife.

Turkey recalled its ambassador after the flotilla incident.

Mr Injaz is from the West Bank town of Ramallah. He is reported to have a history of mental illness. He has claimed he used to work for Israeli intelligence and is being persecuted by them.

In 2006, he sought asylum at the British embassy in Tel Aviv.