From the Liveblog of
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Over 100 BBC staff accuse UK outlet of favoring Israel in Gaza war coverage — report
Over 100 BBC employees have reportedly sent a letter to the British outlet’s director general accusing the corporation of favoring Israel in its coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza.
The letter to BBC director general Tim Davie, published in full by UK news site The Independent yesterday, charges that the broadcaster’s “journalistic tenets have been lacking when it comes to holding Israel to account for its actions.”
The BBC has also repeatedly been accused of bias against Israel since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre that sparked the war in Gaza.
Some 230 media figures who signed the letter call on the BBC, along with British channels ITV and Sky News, to reiterate to their readers that Israel doesn’t give foreign media access to Gaza, to bring skepticism to Israeli claims, and to provide “proportionate representation of experts in war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Israel blocked civilian access to Gaza on October 7 as the region was plunged into war by Hamas’s brutal attack. Since then only journalists already in the enclave, largely local Palestinian freelancers, or those escorted by the military under tightly controlled conditions have managed to report from inside the enclave.
The letter also calls on the outlets to “robustly challenge” Israeli government and military officials in interviews.
The Independent publishes a response from the BBC denying that it favors Israel in its coverage, insisting, “When we make mistakes or have made changes to the way we report, we are transparent. We are also very clear with our audiences on the limitations put on our reporting – including the lack of access into Gaza and restricted access to parts of Lebanon, and our continued efforts to get reporters into those areas.”
A British report released in September found that the BBC displayed a “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against Israel and had breached its own editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times in its reporting at the height of the Israel-Hamas war.
