Snark and speculation on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’

Once again the BBC recycles a media generated myth.

The January 25th edition of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme included an item (from 1:47:16 here) relating to an invitation extended two days earlier to two Israeli leaders to meet the US president in Washington.

The White House press secretary’s statement read:

“President Donald J. Trump will welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to the White House on January 28, 2020. LTG. (Res.) MK Benjamin Gantz, Blue and White Chairman, has also accepted the President’s invitation to come to Washington. The United States and Israel are strong partners, and the Prime Minister’s visit is an opportunity to discuss our shared regional and national security interests.”

On the same day the US Vice-president said:

“President Trump asked me to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week for talks” on regional issues, including peace…” 

‘Today’ presenter Sarah Smith introduced the item as follows: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]

Smith: “Donald Trump, using his usual humility, calls it ‘the deal of the century’: a proposed Middle East peace deal that he might be ready to unveil next week.”

As we have noted on these pages in the past (see for example here and here) when the BBC has promoted that highlighted claim, it is – as documented by AFP journalist Joe Dyke – unsupported and the hook for Smith’s snide reference to “humility” is actually a media generated myth. She continued:

Smith: “Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East editor, will be there if he does. Good morning Jeremy. Some of the details of this came out of course via Twitter – being that this is President Trump – where he said ‘reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative’. But given that he put that on Twitter himself, that is presumably as good as an announcement that he’s ready to reveal it.”

In fact no “details…came out” at all via that one Tweet from Trump but Bowen was ready to play along with Smith’s speculations, adding more than a few of his own about possible elements of the US plan which he appears to have gleaned second-hand from the same Israeli media outlets which reported that Gantz would refuse the invitation to go to Washington. On the evening of January 25th, the accuracy of such journalistic speculations was evident when Gantz announced his intention to travel to Washington the following day.

BBC audiences learned nothing concrete or factual at all from Bowen’s repetition of speculations in unidentified “reports”. They did however see how the BBC is already framing this topic, portraying the as yet unpublished US plan as one “which will absolutely include all of Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel’s agenda”.

So much for the BBC’s obligation to offer audiences “a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other United Kingdom news providers”.

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