Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Private Thoughts of a BBC Fellow

I don't pretend to understand all the minutiae of Twitter, this post notwithstanding. A few minutes ago I stumbled upn an oddity I hadn't been aware of. A British journalist named Hugh Naylor tweeted something about Oxfam, and I responded. When you respond to a tweet and others have responded before you, you see the entire conversation; in this case, part of what had gone on there before my arrival was that a second British journalist, Roland Hughs, had been chatting with Naylor about how dangerous it is in Gaza. Hughs signed off with a comment about how he, unlike Naylor, wasn't in an area where Israeli warships are firing at random in Naylor's direction.

I responded sharply (There aren't Israeli warships firing randomly in anyone's direction, anywhere. Get a hold of yourself). Then, when I came to retweet Hugh's tweet so people could see the lazy comments of a BBC reporter, Twitter blocked me. It seems Hugh's Twitter account is protected, perhaps to give him the ability to chat without being listened in on. Except that I hadn't been listening in; as a matter of fact, until half an hour ago I didn't know Roland Hugh even exists.

But now that I know, I find it instructive that a BBC World News journalist, when he's got his guard down and is chatting with a friend, describes IDF actions in language not much different than Hamas does. Or, in the ranking I posited here, he's a category two antagonist.

Update: a number of readers have sent me screenshots of Roland's tweet. Here, for example.

7 comments:

aparatchik said...

Sounds like *he* personally blocked you in particular rather than twitter.

aparatchik said...

I've just found his tweet and retweeted it without "introducing myself" first ;o)

You can see it on my timeline here: https://twitter.com/CallenFamily

Silke said...

another try to just say hello and that I am reading you religiously

- let's see whether this time I'll do better with reading those enigmatic letters

Stop BDS Park Slope said...

"There aren't Israeli warships firing randomly in my direction, so things aren't too bad."

Yaacov, could it be he was just saying Israeli warships aren't firing randomly? Or is he implying there is random fire elsewhere? I can't tell from the tweet.

How cowardly to block you!

Nycerbarb

Stop BDS Park Slope said...

I have been reading Andy Carvin's (@acarvin)twitter feed. He is an NPR journalist.

Apparently the journalists are pretty upset about an Israeli airstrike near their hotels about an hour ago (3:30AM Israel time?) Saying the windows of the hotels were blown out.

Nycerbarb

Anonymous said...

Yaacov,

It is great to be able once again to read your clear thinking about the conflict, although I assume that our windfall is temporary.

I know that you are in Jerusalem and not the south but stay safe none the less. I hope that, if your sons have to serve in Gaza, that they return safe and whole.

David E. Sigeti

peterthehungarian said...

This BBC journo is far from being alone
http://bbcwatch.org/2012/11/19/bbcs-jon-donnison-tweets-malicious-fauxtography/