** Found this gem in the Daily Mail - Report below:
Renamed (Is this the way to) Al-Jazeera? it features BBC staff singing and dancing in front of images of missiles being fired and tanks rolling across the Arabian desert.
It also contains crass Arab stereotypes and makes joking reference to Osama Bin Laden, the PaIestinian conflict.
The video has been condemned by an Arab rights group as 'insenstive and puerile', as well as being potentially offensive to Muslims.
The three-and-half-minute long video was made for BBC London assistant editor Simon Torkington, who is leaving the Corporation to work for Al-Jazeera International in Qatar, along with his wife, former ITV news anchor Shiulie Ghosh.
The video was shown Mr Torkington's private leaving party last week, but has since been put on the Internet by a BBC insider angry that it was made with licence fee-payer's money.
It features BBC executive Ian Wade in the Peter Kay role, wearing an open necked shirt revealing a luxuriant chest wig and oversized golden medallion.
He is joined by around ten BBC staff, some of whom wear Arab-style head-dresses and one of whom wears a false beard.
After dancing in front of video footage of the invasion of Iraq, the group are seen inside BBC London's office: messing around on a stairwell and crammed into a lift.
One of the reporters even sports a Muslim prayer cap - commonly known as a topi - as he dances around with his shirt off.
The lyrics have been reworked. The song now starts: "When the day is dawning. On a muggy old Doha morning. How I long to be there. With Osama who's waiting for me there."
And it ends: "Though it may be harder I'll be reporting on the Intifada. Just beyond the sand dunes there's a world so new. Of jilbabs and palm trees. And there's camel poo."
Yesterday the video was criticised by Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab British Understanding, who said: "It is insensitive, stereotypical and puerile.
"Arabs are fed up with being stereotyped in terms of camels and having lots of money and they will not be happy to see a celebration of American tanks firing on Iraq and making fun of their deaths.
"It is not something that one would expect from an employee of a respectable news organisation like the BBC.
"It also makes fun of Al Jazeera which has become a leading world broadcasting organisation and one that millions of Arabs watch as their main source of news."
Mr Doyle that wearing of the prayer cap while dancing around semi-naked could be construed as offensive by some Muslims, and commenting on the chest wig, he said: "The idea of having open-necked shirts and medallion is absurd - Qataris are actually extremely well-dressed."
There is an enduring stereotype that Arabs are sleazy. The region tends to be seen in terms of bombs and bullets - this is a completely one-dimensional view that is just not correct."
Yesterday a spokesman for the BBC admitted that the video was "ill-judged" and said the people involved in making the video would be questioned by bosses.
The spokesman said:"The BBC was unaware of the nature of the content of this private and informal video as it was being made.
"A spoof of the well-known and much-parodied music video for Amarillo, this unofficial film is within the tradition of a teasing farewell to a departing colleague.
"It was made by his friends in their spare time and hastily put together. It was always intended solely for private viewing.
"Nevertheless, we think it was ill-judged, and we will be speaking with those involved and learning the lessons that need to be learned."
Joke lyrics
When the day is dawning On a muggy old Doha morning How I long to be there With Osama who's waiting for me there
Every lonely news room where I hang my hat Ain't half as pretty As where my Shiulie's at
Is this the way to Al-Jazeera? This is the end of the BBC era Dreaming dreams of Al-Jazeera And sweet Shiulie who waits for me
Is this the way to Al-Jazeera? I'm going to get paid lots of lira, Storky's off to Al-Jazeera
But the sand is blazing Crown Prince Hamad bin Khalifa is waiting Though it may be harder I'll be reporting on the Intifada.
Just beyond the sand dunes There's a world so new Oh jilbabs and palm trees And there's camel poo...
**No comment needed just what we have gotten used to from our state broadcaster...Now if only El Beeb would dare put this on the evening news....Watch the video
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