Michael Palin show criticised over statements about Balkans war

The Guardian ^

[kronos77]

Michael Palin's New Europe has been rapped by the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee over its portrayal of the role of Serbia in the Balkan conflict in the 1990s.

Palin's most recent travelogue was "political commentary rather than a travel series" and gave an inaccurate account of the war in the 1990s Balkan conflict, according to one complainant.

Comments made by Palin about the destruction of a bridge at Mostar, Bosnia in 1993 came in for criticism from the complainant. Palin's comments were made in 'War and Peace', the first episode of the series, which was broadcast on BBC1 in September last year.

In its ruling on the Palin show, published today as part of its monthly update on complaints, the ESC said the presenter's comment that there was "no reason for the destruction" of the bridge at Mostar was "inaccurate".

The complainant also took exception to Palin's suggestion in the show that Serbia was "unfairly blamed" for all the trouble in the region.

In its ruling the ESC said that commentary in the show had oversimplified the issues when referring to who was to blame for the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The committee said that the programme had "tried to provide context to imply that Serbia was not solely to blame".

However, it added that the "choice of phrasing did not do justice to the complex and controversial nature of the issues".

The ESC said that the comments "needed balance and context", adding that while the programme did not carry a political message it "could have done more to highlight Serbia's role in the conflict".

[kronos77]

[kronos77]

Ping!

[Navy Patriot]

Ooh, failure to parrot the party line, a serious crime.

[kronos77]

Well the Commrades in London....

[Berlin_Freeper]

...the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee...

LOL!

[1rudeboy]

So who destroyed the bridge? Serbs, Croats, or Bosnians?

What is the "official" BBC line, what is the line Palin took, and what is the truth? I'm curious.

[Defiant]

Ooh, failure to parrot the party line

His parrot is not dead, it's only sleeping.

[1066AD]

It’s an ex-parrot.

[Bokababe]

"The bridge was destroyed by Croatian Defence Council units during the Bosnian War, on November 9, 1993 at 10:15 am. Slobodan Praljak, the commander of the Croat forces, is on trial at the ICTY for ordering the destruction of the bridge, among other charges."Wiki

Not sure what Palin said. Haven't seen the episode yet, but it wouldn't be the first time Palin has pissed me off with his PC, "Isn't the EU just a wonderful thing?" speeches.

[Bokababe]

Back when the 1999 NATO Bombing was going on, I recall Charles Grodin on Fox making the comment about "the bravery of Serbs" standing on a bridge with bull's eye t-shirts on and he went on about it for a few minutes with statemnts, "Like, wow! These people are amazingly tough and brave, with bombs dropping on them, they are saying Come get me! These are the kind of people that makes you wish they were on our side!" -- until the commercial break. When he came back after commercial, you knew some network exec had made "the call downstairs" because Grodin returned acting like a puppy who had just peed on the rug. He was all apologetic and started spouting the PC party line, "Blah-blah, blah..."100,000 Albanians missing" (a lie), Racak, (a lie)...big bad Serbs (also a lie)

Journalists are scared poop-less of those Big Boy network types and it was sooooo obvious back then! This time it was Pailn's turn in the hot seat.

[TigersEye]

Brit, U.S. and NATO CYA. They don’t want anyone to point out what a travesty this was.

[MistrX]

fiords

[norton]

"wouldn't be the first time Palin has pissed me off with his PC, 'Isn't the EU just a wonderful thing?' speeches. "

Judging by the posting, this one don't sound too very wonderful for the EU..

(Picturing Carol Cleveland in nun's costume, or maybe her underwear, saying "Bad Python...Bad, BAD, Python...")

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The complainant also took exception to Palin's suggestion in the show that Serbia was "unfairly blamed" for all the trouble in the region.

Sounds very un-PC to me. Kudos to Palin. We always liked his travel shows. And you know its bad when the BBC starts giving a Monty Python a hard time.

[Witch-king of Angmar]

Brave New BBC.

[eleni121]

Good for Palin-—making an attempt to crack open the whole package of lies and deceit that led up to destruction and death in the Balkans and the fabricated demonization of Serbian people.

[SQUID]

Because lots of Islamic money goes owns portions of news media. They also pay big oil dollars to PR firms to spin for them.

[PurpleMan]

“...but it wouldn’t be the first time Palin has pissed me off with his PC, “Isn’t the EU just a wonderful thing?”

Pissed off?? Pissed off??

Whoa.

Life’s too short to get pissed off over what someone says.

[50sDad]

Evil, wicked Zoot!

[Kozak]

Norwegian Blue? Pining for the Fjords?