BBC misleads audiences on ‘banning’ of a film in Israel

In a week in which it was criticised for its own self-censorship during a BBC Three debate programme ironically titled ‘Free Speech’, the BBC published an article on the Entertainment & Arts and Middle East pages of the BBC News website about the banning of the new film ‘Noah in various Middle East countries.

Titled “Middle East ban for Hollywood’s Noah epic” the article – dated March 13th– deals almost entirely with the subject of why the film has been banned in countries such as Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE and also cites similar prior cases in other countries. BBC art Noah

Right at the bottom of a whole article devoted to the subject of the banning of films on religious grounds, readers find the following two sentences:

“Hollywood’s depiction of religion have [sic] provoked controversy before, including Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ, which shows the crucifixion of Jesus.

It was screened across much of the region, but it was not shown in most cinemas in Israel and parts of the Gulf.”

Although it is not stated specifically, most readers – especially after having read the preceding eighteen paragraphs – will naturally take that to mean that Gibson’s film was banned in Israel on religious grounds. 

In fact the film was not banned in Israel at all; it simply was not commercially released due to a lack of public interest. In other words, the Israeli public was not attracted by the prospect of sitting through the 127 minute depiction – largely in Latin and Aramaic – of a story with which the majority of Israelis do not connect.

Clearly BBC audiences are misled by the inaccurate implication in this article.

 

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