TV reporters are not showing the Taliban's humanity, says BBC presenter

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | August 25, 2008

[Stoat]

A BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan's ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the 'humanity of the Taliban'.

(edit)

The veteran correspondent and presenter, who played a key role in the BBC's coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, told the Edinburgh International Television Conference: 'What's lacking in the coverage of the Afghans is the sense of the humanity of the Afghans.

(edit)

Asked what was missing in British coverage, she added: 'It may sound odd but the humanity of the Taliban, because the Taliban are a wide, very diverse group of people.

(edit)

'Some of them would like to talk to the British Government. Some of them don't want to be fighting British troops. Some of them would. This is the ideological Taliban.

'We never have the ability or sometimes the desire to present this in a different way, so that people would be interested... it's a regret.'

(edit)

[Stoat]

(begin rant)

Considering that we've been endlessly told that the war on terror is a sham and illegal war, that it's all been an excuse to steal the oil and land from the entirely honorable and virtuous peoples of the region and how the West's oppression of these wonderful people is the entire cause of all their problems I thought that I had been adequately informed of their wonderful humanity. 

Silly me, I guess not.  I really hadn't been properly schooled on the virtuous nature of treating women far worse than animals, murdering and torturing those who don't want to abide by the ravings of a deified pedophile and of having the ultimate dream of transforming the entire planet into a living Hell.

(end of rant)

[listenhillary]

I’d bet they’ve hired James Carville’s media PR firm.

[nuconvert]

Lyse Doucet has been with BBC since 1983

[weegee]

It was the Taliban who blew up ancient Buddhist statues in March of 2001 because they were an offense against Islam.

[Taxbilly]

If they want to hear them they should watch the DNC convention this week.

[fishergirl]

Thank you! Reporters aren’t showing the humanity of the Taliban because the Taliban has no humanity.

[fishergirl]

“present this in a different way, so that people would be interested” The only reporting that interests me regarding the Taliban is how many of the slimeballs are killed by our brave troops on a daily basis.

[bamahead]

Oh okay then....here's a snapshot of Taliban 'Humanity' for ya:



Click pic for a description of this.

[SpinnerWebb]

reporters are not showing the Taliban's humanity

That's because there are no known documented cases. Bigfoot is more of a reality.

[M203M4]

This garbage gets trotted out during every war. It is widely rejected (as it should be) when focused on foes, but gets lapped up when it comes to "good friends", as it was during WWII when our war propaganda included blessings of the glorious soviet revolution and the brave, moral actions of our communist brothers in arms against the Axis.

This crap also happened for the taliban already - yes, we already said nice things about those subhumans once, and STILL have failed to learn that THE ENEMY OF OUR ENEMY IS NOT NECESSARILY OUR FRIEND. Foes are never united by their shared opposition to a common enemy - it is a romantic fiction borne of unbridled optimism at best, but more often borne of cowardice. Arming and training the enemies of tomorrow to fight the battles of yesterday will work to our advantage when pigs fly out of the butts of camels.

[Stoat]

I’d bet they’ve hired James Carville’s media PR firm.

If they can make The Snakehead look reasonable to some then they obviously have the Midas touch and will soon have the Taliban looking like mainstreet boyscouts in no time.

[Stoat]

Lyse Doucet has been with BBC since 1983

In most industries and professions such a long tenure means a solid mastery of the job at hand, but so often the reverse is true for media people as we see these insane pronouncements from longtime hands on an increasing basis....further proof that the TV rots your brain whether you're in front of the camera or watching the box at home.

[atomic_dog]

One can only wonder what the response would have been if a variant of that question had been asked in 1940.

"What's lacking in the coverage of the Afghans Germans is the sense of the humanity of the Afghans SS.

[lonestar67]

Correction: Media fails to report on the inhumanity of the Taliban

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

I think what he may be hinting at is that not all people who fight for the Taliban are inhuman monsters. It’s a bit of a simplistic argument to make to suggest that. There were some people who fought for the Nazis who were decent human beings, even if the side they were on was the wrong one....

[Stoat]

I think what he may be hinting at is that not all people who fight for the Taliban are inhuman monsters. It’s a bit of a simplistic argument to make to suggest that. There were some people who fought for the Nazis who were decent human beings, even if the side they were on was the wrong one....

Undoubtedly she is trying, in a breathtakingly inarticulate way, to make such a statement but I question the validity of it nonetheless.  It's true that in WW2, particularly toward the end of the war, any male who could walk and carry a gun was drafted into the German army and forced to fight for the Fatherland, and those who resisted or attempted to escape were routinely executed, oftentimes by being hung from lamp posts to serve as a warning for others.  This was enforced by the entire (remaining) machinery of the State.  I haven't seen a comparable situation on the part of the Taliban, in that my understanding is that their active, frontline fighters are composed of willing true-believers.

[Stoat]

One can only wonder what the response would have been if a variant of that question had been asked in 1940.

"What's lacking in the coverage of the Afghans Germans is the sense of the humanity of the Afghans SS.

I'm guessing that the Brits would have burned down the offices of the BBC and tarred and feathered whoever would have said such a thing.

As of now this story is around 12 hours old and so far I'm only seeing it in the Mail and the Telegraph....although there are quite a few reader responses in each edition there is not yet any truly widespread indignation that I'm seeing....hopefully that will come with time.

One can only wonder what the response would have been if a variant of that question had been asked in 1940.

"What's lacking in the coverage of the Afghans Germans is the sense of the humanity of the Afghans SS.

[Billthedrill]

This humanity?

[DuncanWaring]

Related-to-”Images of War” Ping.

[Stoat]

This humanity?

Every time I see that photo, or any of thousands of similar ones, it makes me want to send them some of these stylish and fashionable American care packages: