The BBC has admitted it was “inadvisable” for its serving Director of Television Danny Cohen to add his name to a letter opposing a cultural boycott of Israel. Cohen signed the letter in the Guardian in October, along with novelist J.K Rowling and several MPs who are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel. The …
The BBC has found that a broadcast by veteran presenter, John Humphrys, on Radio 4’s Today programme was in breach of the corporation’s editorial guidelines on accuracy. On 19th October, Humphrys and BBC Middle East Correspondent, Kevin Connolly, had a two-way conversation about the escalated violence in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel. Palestine …
In the early hours of 12th November, around two dozen Israeli gunmen, one disguised as a pregnant Palestinian woman, others wearing fake beards, invaded a hospital in Hebron and gunned down a 28-year-old man. In a rare burst of reporting on an Israeli atrocity, the BBC ran an article on its website headlined: “Israelis shoot …
The BBC’s Director of Television, Danny Cohen, has called for Israel to be protected from cultural boycotts. Cohen joined senior figures from the Parliamentary lobby groups, Conservative Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Israel, in signing a letter published in the Guardian in October which claims that Israel is being singled out as a …
The BBC’s Director of Television has joined the Chair of Conservative Friends of Israel and the Vice Chair of Labour Friends of Israel in calling for Israel to be protected from cultural boycotts. Danny Cohen added his name to a letter published in the Guardian last week, claiming Israel was being singled out as a …
The BBC’s head of news and current affairs, and some of the organisation’s most senior presenters, have received innovative reminders this week that the Palestinians are an occupied people whose land is still being stolen from them. Palestine Solidarity Campaign has sent its mugs, printed with maps showing just how much of their land Palestinians …
Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. All journalists and news organisations should know this basic fact. The BBC, apparently, doesn’t. On 14th October, the BBC’s nightly current affairs programme ‘Newsnight’ wrongly referred to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Reporting from East Jerusalem, the BBC’s Diplomatic Editor, Mark Urban, said: “This evening, there were …
Despite more than 30 Palestinians, almost half of them children, being killed by Israel in the first two weeks of October, the BBC’s reporting has focused on the far fewer attacks which have been carried out against Israelis. The BBC has also refused to place October’s events in the context of the occupation. Many of …
The BBC has upheld complaints that an interview with Israel’s ‘defence’ minister on Radio 4 was biased in favour of Israel. Moshe Ya’alon was allowed to tell lie after lie on the Today programme on 19th March by BBC presenter, Sarah Montague, who remained completely silent for minutes on end as he spoke. Among the …