Skip to main content

When the fog of war envelops everything, we owe it to those who suffer to admit doubt | Gaby Hinsliff

The BBC is under scrutiny over reports of the Gaza hospital blast. But there is a lesson for all who want clarity when there is none

Death has climbed in through our windows; it has entered our fortresses.

Throughout these days of unbearable stories, from the slaughter of small children in their kibbutz bedrooms to the fireball at a Gaza hospital where families were seeking sanctuary from bombs, those words have echoed around my mind. Taken from the biblical book of Jeremiah, they entered my thoroughly godless ears via a comforting-sounding rabbi on the BBC and stayed. It is no criticism of its competitors to say that in this house at least, in times of trouble, it’s always the BBC. Though nobody knows better than a journalist that journalists aren’t infallible, there are times when only the Pavlovian effect of the pips or of Lyse Doucet’s voice will do.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/rn0C6vY

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Despite Unleashing COVID-19, Expert Predicts China Could Emerge from Pandemic with Even Stronger Hold on Other Nations

Tensions between the US and China are growing, fueled by COVID-19 and accusations of dishonesty. One result is Americans are suing Beijing, seeking to hold it accountable for the worldwide pandemic. Those efforts could backfire, however, such that China not only evades consequences but potentially benefits from the pandemic. from CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/3aVp0Ba

The Guardian view on Covid-19, five years on: lessons still to be learned | Editorial

Though many would rather forget the pandemic, we are living with its consequences. Are we any better prepared for the next one? “When asked what was the biggest disaster of the twentieth century, almost nobody answers the Spanish flu,” notes Laura Spinney in her book Pale Rider, of an event that killed as many as one in 20 of the global population. “There is no cenotaph, no monument in London, Moscow or Washington DC.” Most of us will better understand that absence after Covid-19 , which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization five years ago this week. Some cannot put those events behind them: most obviously, many of those bereaved by the 7 million deaths worldwide (not including those indirectly caused by the pandemic ), and the significant numbers still living with long Covid . Others want to forget the loss of loved ones, the months of isolation and the costs to businesses, families and mental health. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? I...