the fourth place

I've been watching the BBC for about 2 hours looking especially at the footage of kidnapped soldiers and the analysis of the whole incident. And I think Robert over at Samizdata (not to mention the Biased BBC blog and Mr Aitken in the wider context) have a seriously good point. I'll get really specific here: BBC TV does not mention international law in the context of the current Iranian incident - even when talking directly about the scope and scale to which the action is "unacceptable" - despite traditional protection of POWs from display and public curiosity.

The two people who have mentioned international conventions were Liberal Democrat and Conservative spokesmen whose information doesn't appear to have been followed up. The theme instead seems to be that the line between Iraqi and Iranian waters is disputed and that the pictures are not a provocation but have been shown by the Iranians to reassure Britain. The confession of Leading Seaman Turney to obviously being in Iranian waters is qualified but is also repeated often. The specific claim from an "expert" on "maritime borders" that there is no internationally recognised line was followed up on and put to interviewees the next time around. I'll continue to watch and see if the international law angle is followed up on in the next loop.

First, let's look at what comes up under "Geneva Convention" on the BBC News and Sport search page.

News - Q&A: US military tribunals

BBC News explores the military tribunals being set up to try some of the detainees at Guantanamo.

80% relevance | 27 Mar 2007

News - Profile: International Committee of the Red Cross

Key facts, figures and dates

87% relevance | 3 Mar 2007

News - Guantanamo - black hole or vital tool?

The BBC's Paul Reynolds look at the issues surrounding the Guantanamo Bay camp five years after its first prisoners arrived.

78% relevance | 21 Feb 2007

News - Red Crystal gets official status

The Crystal joins the Red Cross and Crescent as a symbol of the world's best-known humanitarian organisation.

79% relevance | 14 Jan 2007

News - Settlements 'violate Israeli law'

A report says that 40% of settlements are built on private Palestinian land, in violation of Israeli law.

78% relevance | 21 Nov 2006

So, articles all mentioning the US and Israel but, despite being sorted by date, no mention of Iran thrice breaking the Geneva Convention as described by Robert:

The Iranians have just committed yet another violation of the Geneva Conventions: publicly displaying the British sailors they captured last week.

This makes the third violation of the Geneva Conventions by Iran: threatening to try soldiers in uniform for espionage, interrogation of captured soldiers, and now public display of captured soldiers.

There is debate about whether the Geneva convention applies, and I am not an expert, but the Iranians are certainly sailing pretty close to it. LibDem and Conservative have mentioned it or other conventions, but when the BBC receive an email from a viewer asking specifically what the Goverment's problem is with the Iranians showing the footage, what do they say?

They prefer "consular access". Huh?