Looks like the BBC got this one seriously wrong.

Over the last few days there has been a lot of controversy over the BBC's decision not to show an aid appeal for donations to help the people of Gaza by the D.E.C.

The D.E.C (Disasters Emergency Committee) is, as their Wikipedia entry says, "an umbrella group comprising thirteen UK charities. These charities are all associated with disaster related issues such as providing clean water, humanitarian aid and medical care."

Among the 13 charities that operate under the D.E.C are The British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and World Vision. These and the other charities are well established organisations who quite possibly know a lot, lot more about disaster relief than the BBC do. In recent times, working under the D.E.C. these charities have raised millions of pounds to help in situations such as the Congo (DR) Crisis, the Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone disaster, the Bangladesh Cyclone disaster and the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake.

But now the BBC have "a concern about whether aid raised by the appeal could actually be delivered on the ground." It is a sorry state of affairs to see a broadcasting company, particular one such as the BBC who is normally held in high regard, questioning whether 13 of the most respected aid agencies in the world are capable of doing their job.

The statement issued by the BBC's Director-General then goes on to say the following:

"But there is a second more fundamental reason why we decided that we should not broadcast the appeal at present. This is because Gaza remains a major ongoing news story,..."

So now, not only are they questioning the compentency of 13 of the world's most regarded aid agencies, they are now putting news before the lives, health and well-being of thousands of people in desperate need of help.

This is a very sick and twisted view of the world and definately not what anyone (apart from the BBC) would call impartial.

As a aside, it appears that some of the critism may be deflected from the BBC today as there are numerous reports that Sky will not be broadcasting the aid appeal either. This, though, is not suprising if you consider that Sky (otherwise know as British Sky Broadcasting) in the UK is a sister company to Fox News in the USA. Nuff said I think.

The other thing to bear in mind here is that the BBC is meant to be there to report the news and not to BE the news.