Hope in a Slingshot for ABC TV Broadcast

Dear folk,

Please sign this petition if you believe that the Australian public have a right to see Hope in a Slingshot, a documentary about the military occupation of the Palestinian people living in The West Bank and Gaza.

This documentary passed all the quality and narrative standards of the ABC and was accepted for broadcast in April 2009. It is considered to be a “signal contribution to peaceful representation of this (the Palestinian-Israeli) conflict” by Jake Lynch, Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in University of Sydney.

In November 2009 the offer for broadcast was withdrawn. Kim Dalton, the Head of the ABC TV had decided that the film lacked balance and that the ABC were unable to find another documentary to counter balance Hope in a Slingshot.

Senator Scott Ludlam challenged Mark Scott, the Director of the ABC, in the Senate Estimates last May 2010 about the withdrawal. In response, the ABC agreed to reconsider broadcasting the film, if they found a documentary to counter balance it.

Oddly enough they have never found one despite there being plenty to choose from, not least To See if I am Smiling or A Case for Israel.

Hope in a Slingshot is an unfunded film made specifically to address the gaping hole in information available in Australia's main stream media about this 'conflict'. The military occupation and what that means to the Palestinian people living in The West Bank and Gaza is rarely if ever mentioned in Australia let alone reported upon. 

In and of itself this documentary provides balance.

This petition is not only about Hope in a Slingshot, but it is also about standing up to the ABC's failing standards in fair and balanced reporting.

For more information

http://www.google.com/search?q=hope+in+a+slingshot+inka+stafrace&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=o&ei=-G2nTNKxA8K4jAeS5oTqDA&start=10&sa=N

For the trailer 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvEW1JneZnw&feature=channel_page

Thank you

Inka Stafrace – The filmmaker