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Listed below are comments made by factsearcher between Thursday, 10th July 2008 and Monday, 15th June 2009.

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The Iranian twitter-lution? 2:19pm on 15 Jun 2009 Newsnight viewers await if the looming confusion could be dispelled by finding answers to the following burning questions:
During Iran's previous presidentential elections, when were the results tabulated and announced? Did the results for previous presidentential elections give a province-wise breakdown for contenders?
How fool proof are the procedures for vote tallies from districts to provinces to centre in Iran? Are district and province votes tabulated locally and their tally sent for final accumulative calculations? What is the usual time lag between provinces sending their figures and total outcome tabulated and announced?
Thursday 28 May 2009 11:48am on 29 May 2009 When Larry Robinson speaks about the situation in Pakistan, he has three years of stay as ex-US Counsellor to Islamabad which contributed to his understanding of the people and their problems.

What strengths do MJ Gohel bring to help Newsnight viewers understand the
Swat crisis better? Has he visited those areas? Does he know the tribal composition of the terrain to tell one tribe from the other? Does he know
Pashtu in which some of broadcast about their motives and inspiration?
If answers to most of these questions is in negative, then inviting armchair commentators like him make viewers wonder if some newsnight producers remain seduced by superficiality?
Wednesday, 22 April, 2009 6:53pm on 24 Apr 2009 When those twelve Pakistani students were arrested, it was opening news on 9 April Newsnight. But when the same individuals were released, only a passing reference could be hardly found about them on the 22 April
bulletin or afterwards.

It is not the first time details were splashed over by the Newsnight when arrests of Muslim young men are made. However, every time the arrestees are released owing to absence of evidence, the news show fails to acknowledge this fact. Is it because some on the show tend to over-sensationalizes the arrest a bit out of proportion?

No doubt such irresponsible and uneven coverage causes undue stress and discomfort to many and should be dealt with balance, sense of proportionality and evenhandedness in future.
Tuesday, 3 March, 2009 11:27am on 04 Mar 2009
When it comes to security matters, it is Frank Gardner who usually has some insights to offer.

Too bad that the 3 March Lahore incident was commented upon reporter
(Richard Watson) and armchair commentators (Sajan Gohel and Patrick Mercer) who haven't event set foot on Pakistan soil for months if not years.

Their comments were typical, based on hearsay and speculation did not substantially reflected if before volunteering their opinions they even consulted any genuine expertise close to the ground for updating their observations.

One aspect missing from the incident's coverage was the fact that 6 police/security personnel engaged and distracted the attackers, took the brunt on themselves and led the Lankan team escape to safety. Why those unsung heroes and victims not accorded appropriate mention?
BBC and the Gaza appeal 9:44pm on 24 Jan 2009 BBC can serve better by convincing its audience and patrons how it has managed to maintain neutrality on following accounts: When access to Gaza was denied, what pragmatic, proactive and timely actions were taken that the audience does not end up with an unbalanced if not unsided story.
For sake of clarity, BBC can easily give the number of appearances and duration form 26 December 2008 and 17 January 2009 for those appearing across its various channels in different bulletins/news programmes:

Mark Regev
Avil Leibovich
Issac Herzog
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and others.

For establishing a comparison, (even if there were restrictions on entering and reporting from Gaza), how many times genuine, credible and qualified professionals were interviewed, quoted and shown i.e. persons including:
UNRWA director John Ging John Holmes, UN Humanitarian Affairs, Donatella Rivera, Amnesty's Jerusalem investigator, Navi Pillay UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Katherine Ritz, ICRC,
Norwegian surgeon Erik Fosse Norwegian anesthesiologist and professor in emergency medicine Mads Gilbert
Such comparison is necessary especially when in bulletin after bulletin Israel's spokespersons were (and still are) given airtime. So how does the tally looks like vis-à-vis human right activists and medical experts in urban casualties?

How much interaction, consultation BBC had to provide the version of civil liberty advocates from groups such as B'TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories were consulted and interview as to how BBC can verify reports about civilian killings in Gaza? How many representatives from Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and other emergency assistance networks were interviewed?

How many medical personnel with experience of humanitarian relief and medical assistance in urban war settings i.e. Serbia, Bosnia were interviewed to help BBC audience get a comparative perspective of consequences of armed incursions into civilian areas.

BBC claims that because of restrictions imposed they could only cover the incursion on Gaza from what many name as the hill of same since most coverage despatched from the same spot in Israel overlooking Gaza's outskirts.

How many times did BBC air reports from the Palestine-Egyptian border in Rafa from the Egyptian side which would have served to bring a new dimension to provide the story from more than one restrictive angle?

Why a comprehensive picture of the gravity of the situation at hospitals in Gaza
is not being given? What is the daily pressure on the medical personnel?
What kind of shortages are they facing?

What prevents BBC from using commercially available satellite images for a then and now perspective to allow the viewers have an idea how the sea side strip has changed say from 25 December 2009 and today.

Perhaps an exercise similar to the above will prove helpful to clearly determine if BBC is fair, neutral and objective in covering Gaza.
Monday, 12 January, 2008 8:53pm on 12 Jan 2009 As Bush held his bowing out news conference, a stock taking is in order
how did US foriegn policy fare in recent years to (1) win hearts and minds of other people and (2) leave the world as a safer place for US people and its partner states.

In a Middle East valedictory speech on 5 December, summing up the nearly eight years of his two administrations, George W. Bush declared that ?the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful, and more promising place than it was in 2001.?

Many observers of the onground realities in the Middle East disagree. Counting some of the important ways things are now worse, Daniel Pipes says Bush erred by the dozen and lists the following:

George W. Bush delivering his swan song on the Middle East.

Iran is closer to nuclear weapons, perhaps the single most alarming development of Bush?s era.

Pakistan is close to becoming a nuclear-armed, Islamist rogue state.

The price of oil reached all time highs and only collapsed in recent months due to a U.S.-led recession.

Turkey has gone from being a stalwart ally to the most anti-American country in the world.

The doctrine of preemption has been discredited.

Arab rejectionism of Israel has spread.

Democracy efforts in Egypt have collapsed.

Hizbullah grows in power in Lebanon.

The Taliban may again run Afghanistan.

Hamas took power in Gaza and may next control the West Bank.

To those who judge things by the global outcry over Gaza on the streets from Guatemala to Guernica, it appears as if Ismail Haniya and company pulling more crowds than George Bush would ever have dreamt/dread about.
Prospects for Thursday, 28 August, 2008 2:31pm on 28 Aug 2008 While covering different aspects of the ongoing Georgian crisis, one awaits as to when the rich and well-qualified perspectives of experts such as Jonathan Wheatley and Anatol Lieven respected for their candid insights on the region
will appear on the Newsnight.
Monday, 11 August, 2008 12:09pm on 12 Aug 2008 Congratulations to Andrew North for asking Saakashvili point blank whether his misjudgement and miscalculations lead to this tragedy?

Dmitry Peskov's response to Emily's question on what Russia ultimately want was quite revealing.

In short, the coverage met the expectations and even surpassed some.
Prospects for Monday, 11 August 1:50pm on 11 Aug 2008 Some issues deserve adequate analysis
to account for possible factors/motives at work. :

What is the implication of the statement by Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin at UNSC on 10 August?

Would Tblisi's advance in fact enable Russia to "restore the balance in the region, which was rocked by a militarization up to combat level in the Georgian forces' bid to serve as NATO's frontline" as declared by Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russian deputy chief of the General Staff?

Did a brinkmanship on the borders by the Georgian leader in fact enticed Georgia into the Russian bear trap? Will it now win Georgia a NATO entry sooner or later?

Will Russia now show how well prepared it was by using this crisis to rectify EU and NATO advances in the region, pressing on for outcome on its own terms as referred to by Allgemeine Zeitung?

One noteworthy source to look at is the discussion at the UN Security Council meeting on Sunday so charged that it led even the participating envoy from Costa Rica to draw attention to the way the terms like 'genocide' 'war crimes' and 'ethnic cleansing' were used.

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad asked Churkin three times if what Russia was pursuing through the present escalation was a regime change in Tblisi?

Are the Russian peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia expected to withdraw meekly like the UN troops from Srebernica
asked Churkin at the UNSC debate.
Wednesday, 9 July, 2008 11:18am on 10 Jul 2008 When it comes to evaluate a rehabilitate and reform to pacify disoriented youth in Saudi Arabia did Newsnight made enough efforts to get a learned, well-informed and qualified opinion in that particualr specialization?

Perhaps in future better candidates could be considered for their expertise such as Harvard Law Professor Dr. Frank E. Vogel, author of Studies of Saudi Arabia (a study of past and present applications of Islamic law through case-studies of Saudi Arabia); or the author of Changed Identities: Challenges of the New Generation in Saudi Arabia, by Dr. Mai Yamani. By bringing a native Saudi, coming from well-connected family and with unparallel exposure to the language, psyche and dynamics of Saudi society might have truly enriched viewers perception on the topic of discussion.

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