Daily Loaf

First Mozambique, then, what? Israel?!

From our whatthefuckaretheythinking department. I'd like to see Andrew Sullivan give a good spin on this little piece of news. Apparently the Israeli government - which I generally back quite ardently - has gone the way of such evolved nations as Mugabe's Zimbabwe, by denying BBC reporters access to interviews with government officials and special briefings. And they played the Nazi card, by comparing the BBC's portrayal of Israel to "the worst of Nazi propaganda."

That's just plain outrageous! The BBC (World, which is what we get here) delivers, imo, some of the most well-balanced coverage of the Middle-Eastern web of conflicts, and comparing it to Nazi propaganda is like comparing Anneli Jäätteenmäki's government troubles to those of Silvio Berlusconi - president of the EU as of today.

Hopping over to the positive side of media life, I just finished reading last weeks Veja (a Brazilian 'Time' or 'Suomen Kuvalehti'). Corrupt politicians, celebrity gossip, the latest rage in plastic surgery, all the standard stuff was there. What really made my day was the cover page and a related article. On which European mainstream weekly would you see the following main headline: "Homosexuals - Life Outside The Closet" - on a rainbow coloured background? The article addressed mostly legal issues gays, lesbians and transvestites face in Brazil, and there were a few nasty basic flaws - like not differentiating between transvestites and transsexuals - but the overall spirit was one of urgent demand for change in Brazil. Yay!

Time to head up north again.