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Follow Us on TwitterAlex Bainbridge complains to Network Ten re The Bolt Report 31Jul11 August 4, 2011
To the producers of The Bolt Report and the managers of Network Ten.
I am writing to make a complaint about the content of The Bolt Report that was aired on TV last Sunday (31-7-11) and that is still available online at the following link: http://ten.com.au/video-player.htm?movideo_p=44795&movideo_m=121098.
The episode in question contains the statement by Andrew Bolt:
“You remember the boycott of Jewish shops in Germany seventy years ago, here’s what the Greens-backed boycott of a Jewish shop now – today – looks like in Perth.”
This is immediately followed by a video clip (presumably taken from a YouTube video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEGmxrsb9CI> ) that clearly features my voice and image as I participated in a BDS (boycott, divestment & sanctions) action in Perth in May.
It is well known that the “boycott of Jewish shops in Germany seventy years ago” was promoted by the Nazi regime in Germany and was motivated by anti-Semitic ideology. Since there was a clear attempt to link these Nazi boycotts with the contemporary BDS campaign, this amounts to a clear implication by The Bolt Report that the action in which I participated was similarly anti-Semitic and/or had fascist tendencies. This is a false implication.
Secondly, the show describes the action as the “boycott of a Jewish shop”. This implies that the shop in question was targeted because of its (presumed) association with the Jewish religion. Again, this is a false implication.
(Incidentally, to this day I do not even know if the shop has any association with the Jewish religion whatsoever.)
In the research I carried out before participating in that action I was able to ascertain that the shop sources its product from the Dead Sea in occupied Palestine – a violation of international law. In fact, it is because of this violation of international law and the shop’s association with Apartheid Israel – a state not a religion – that the shop was targeted.
My concern about how your show (mis)represented me and the action in which I participated was increased after I was contacted by several friends and associates who saw the show. They said that your show presented me as having participated in an anti-Jewish action which is something I would never do.
Therefore, it is the case that The Bolt Report has defamed me by falsely presenting me and the action in which I participated as anti-Jewish.
I would like you to redress this defamation by: firstly, making an apology on the next episode of The Bolt Report; and secondly, allowing me the right of reply on your show to explain clearly that the boycott, divestment & sanctions campaign in which I participate does not target Jewish businesses but instead businesses that profit from their connection to the illegal occupation of Palestine.
Sincerely
Alex Bainbridge
Thank You.
