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Comment by mardifoufs | Hacker News Reader

Aljazeera is literally the Qatari state media. That means they are the media outlet of a slave state controlled by an absolute monarchy . Tell anyone in the Arabic world that aljazeera is neutral or BBC like and you will get laughed at. Even RT is probably not on as short of an editorial leash than al jazeera.

Your comment is actually an amazing example of why we should absolutely avoid media censorship (like the EU is doing right now); it seems like the people who are usually the most vocally pushing for it are also, not coincidentally, those who are also the most likely to be completely oblivious to propaganda even when it's right in front of them. Yet also think that they are impervious to it.

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The BBC is literally the UK state media.

You ignored the "slave state with an absolute monarchy" part I think. Not like they are even comparable, unless you are saying the BBC journalists could justifiably be fearing for their lives if they criticize the UK government? All state media aren't created equal, and aren't equally independant. Otherwise the BBC, aljazeera and RT would be all equal since they are all state media after all.

You stated that you aren't British. You should probably ask some Brits what they think about the BBC and understand their criticisms. You may be surprised by the response.

They generally do not consider it unbiased at all and many would call it false propaganda, especially if they are Irish or Scottish.

I am British. The BBC is the best media service in existence, and although one must watch with open eyes (like any media), it is generally more free of bias than any other available source, especially when covering international matters.

If there were an option to pay the license fee from the US, I would.

I can’t decide your generalizations are pretty ignorant (at best parroting the Daily Mail and friends) or malevolent.

>The BBC is the best media service in existence

Hyperbolic claim, so I will ignore it.

>it is generally more free of bias than any other available source, especially when covering international matters.

I disagree, especially when the British have an interest in the outcome of an international situation.

Not the government, and they won't lose their lives for it, but they do live in a country that records "non-crime hate incidents" and shows them to people requesting your criminal record.

Have you remembered to renew your BBC license this year?

I'm not British but I still think a license based financing is still probably better than financing from the ruling family of a slave petrostate.

Also worth noting that Al Jazeera's coverage in English and Arabic are obviously different.

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