An alert and well-informed reader/BBC listener has sent me this dispatch from the front line of the BBC propaganda offensive:

'Heard this on BBC 5 pm Radio News programme this evening as one of the lead headlines: "Marwan Barghouti, who was jailed by Israel for leading the Intifada, has announced that he will stand for President of the Palestinian Authority". Marwan Barghouti was NOT jailed by Israel for "leading the Intifida" (whatever that means). He was jailed for the murder of five civilians, of involvement in four terror attacks, given 20 years for attempted murder and another 20 for membership of a terrorist organization.Barghouti was found guilty for his role in three shooting attacks that killed a Greek Orthodox monk near Ma'aleh Adumim in 2001; an Israeli near Givat Ze'ev in 2002; and three people at a Tel Aviv restaurant in 2002. (source http://www.factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000764.html)

'The BBC headlines further neglected to say that the EU is "pressing Israel to agree to free Barghouti". The Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas reported several weeks ago that a deal was being formulated under which Barghouti would be released from prison in exchange for the release of Azzam Azzam, an Israeli citizen who was arrested and
imprisoned by Egypt in 1997 on charges of spying for Israel. According to the report, officials in the European Union have been backing the initiative. Typical of the astute analysis I've read re the current BBC/Euro /mainstream media tactic of inflation/deflation; anything Israel does is always inflated so that at best it looks wholly unjust and at worst is the equivalent of Nazi genocide; anything the Palestinian terror groups do is deflated to their being "militants" including Barghouti who is "leading the intifada".'

Lazy BBC journalism? Sloppy? Malicious? Bigoted? All four? Whatever, it's coming at us every day, on programme after programme, bulletin after bulletin. People are believing it. And we are actually paying money for the disservice.