BBC journalists: “we are forced to promote Israel”

A devastating letter signed by more than 100 BBC journalists highlights one of the biggest scandals of our time

This is a devastating intervention. More than a hundred BBC employees wrote a letter to CEO Tim Davie to complain that the company has become a spokesperson for Israel.

It was also signed by 300 other journalists and media professionals: one of them was yours truly. BBC employees, as you would expect, all remained anonymous or risk serious consequences for their careers.

The letter says:

We are writing to express our concerns about opaque editorial decisions and BBC censorship of reporting regarding Israel/Palestine. We believe that the refusal to broadcast the documentary “Gaza: Doctors Under Fire” is just one example of agenda-driven decisions. It demonstrates, once again, that the BBC does not report “without fear or favoritism” when it comes to Israel.

Gaza: Doctors attacked — Basement Films

He goes on to note that the decision not to broadcast the investigation was taken by BBC management despite the fact that the content was approved in accordance with BBC guidelines and editorial policy, which he said, “seems to be a political decision”, adding that the BBC’s response shows that the organization “is paralyzed by fear of being seen as critical of the Israeli government”.

This is a letter that has passed all BBC internal controls. No factual errors were reported. The only other BBC documentary that focused on the apocalyptic situation of the Palestinian people in Gaza was withdrawn following a hysterical pro-Israel campaign – because the father of the child narrator’s son had a subordinate technocratic position in the Hamas administration. Irrelevant, given that the narrator’s words were written for him by the producers of the documentary.

The letter emphasizes that the signatories are not asking the BBC to take sides, but simply to allow BBC journalists to “do their job by providing facts transparently and with appropriate context”. They note a striking failure:

As an organization, we have not offered a meaningful analysis of the British government’s involvement in the war against the Palestinians. We have not reported on arms sales or their legal implications. Instead, these stories were revealed by the BBC’s competitors.

This is one of many scandalous and striking failures of the BBC, which is a public service broadcaster that has a duty to hold the British government to account and has failed to do so.

And that’s the really crucial allegation. The letter says:

This didn’t happen by accident, but rather by design. Much of the BBC’s coverage in this area is defined by anti-Palestinian racism.

That’s exactly it. The BBC did not even claim that a Palestinian’s life was even a fraction of the value of an Israeli life. When I conducted my detailed investigation into BBC coverage for Drop Site News late last year, I worked with data processing journalists who used compelling statistics to show that this is the case...

The letter mentions a crucial name. She says:

The inconsistent way in which the guidelines are applied highlights the role of Sir Robbie Gibb, on the BBC board and the BBC Editorial Standards Committee. We are concerned that an individual with close ties to The Jewish Chronicle, a media outlet that has repeatedly published anti-Palestinian and often racist content, have a say in the BBC’s editorial decisions in any capacity, including the decision not to broadcast “Gaza: Doctors Under Fire”.

Sir Robbie Gibb : The BBC will not be able to deliver on its commitment to fairness and impartiality while he is in office.

Sir Robbie Gibb is a striking textbook case. Brother of a Conservative minister, he joined the BBC as a political researcher after graduating, before becoming chief of staff to Conservative shadow chancellor Francis Maude. He then returned to the BBC as deputy editor of the flagship current affairs show Newsnight, then became editor of BBC political shows such as Daily Politics, where he worked closely with its main presenter, Andrew Neil, then president of the far-right magazine Spectator. He then left in 2017 to become communications director for Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May. He then returned to the BBC, where he joined the board.

We will forgive you if this “revolving door” between the conservatives and the BBC made you dizzy.

He was pointed out by personalities such as the former presenter of Newsnight, Emily Maitlis, who said he was one “active agent of the Conservative Party” who shaped society’s information production by taking action “as the arbiter of the BBC’s impartiality”.

In 2020, he led a takeover bid for the Jewish Chronicle, a newspaper which, instead of fulfilling an essential mission —providing media representation to the British Jewish community—, behaved as a strong supporter of the Israeli state and, as the letter points out, this newspaper even broadcast hideously racist and anti-Palestinian content.

It is absolutely remarkable that this man has so much power and influence at the BBC. Can you imagine anyone with left-wing and pro-Palestinian ties holding such power and influence? There is a greater chance that the Moon will transform into a giant panda called Flibble!

As the letter notes:

This conflict of interest highlights a double standard for BBC content creators who have themselves faced censorship in the name of “impartiality”. In some cases, staff members have been accused of bias simply because they posted news articles critical of the Israeli government on their social media. In comparison, Gibb remains in an influential position, without much transparency regarding his decisions, even though his ideological inclinations are well known. We can no longer ask those responsible for the television license to turn a blind eye to Gibb’s ideological allegiances.

The letter notes that the BBC reports on Israel and Palestine “do not meet our own editorial standards”, with a gulf between the BBC’s coverage of what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank and what our audience can see happening through multiple credible sources, including human rights organizations, staff of the UN and journalists on the ground.

This is why the letter makes this inflammatory statement:

Too often there has been the impression that the BBC does public relations for the Israeli government and military.

Note that over a hundred journalists who spend their lives working for the BBC have said they agree with this.

They say: “We were forced to conclude that decisions are made based on a political agenda rather than to meet the information needs of the public”.

They go on to highlight their extreme concern that BBC reports on the issue “do not meet the standards expected by our audience”, adding that:

We believe Robbie Gibb’s role, both on the Board of Directors and on the Editorial Standards Committee, is untenable. We call on the BBC to do better for its audience and recommit to respecting its values of impartiality, honesty and reporting without fear or favoritism.

In addition to BBC journalists, signatories include actors Juliet Stevenson, Khlaid Abdalla, Zawe Ashton and Miriam Margoyles.

Now internal members of the BBC have things to say. One of them states:

At the BBC, the strength of feelings against Gibb is palpable.

In the corridors of the New Broadcasting House, staff talk about the illogical decisions made by management and the role Gibb must play.

We often feel like we are in an abusive relationship with the BBC, in which we are wrongly manipulated and appeased.

They add:

We are exhausted by double standards and the suspension of editorial standards. For many staff members, this shattered any notion of fairness.

We often console each other for how this could have happened. We believe the BBC will not be able to deliver on its commitment to fairness and impartiality while Gibb is in office.

Screenshot: BBC complicity in the Gaza genocide

Another note:

For over a year we have been aware that the BBC’s news production is out of step with reality. The public is asked to stop believing their own eyes and ears.

Anyone with a phone has seen the footage from Gaza and the West Bank, but BBC News has become entangled in notions of “complexity”.

Why have we taken a clear position on Ukraine and Russia when we fail to state with certainty the facts regarding the Palestinian people? Robbie Gibb is at least part of the answer.

We have raised these concerns time and time again and have not been listened to. We speak out because we need to better serve the public.

Well, indeed, and this is just another example of the biggest Western journalism scandal of our time.

What the BBC and other organizations have done is either completely erase the statements of genocidal and criminal intent made by Israeli leaders and officials, or bury them, and even refuse to explain the genocidal and criminal nature of these statements. These statements turned out to be the most accurate road map for what Israel was going to do, and yet the BBC completely misled its audience about Israel’s intentions, treating these statements as if they were published in a parallel universe, and instead focusing on misleading statements made by Israeli officials designed for Western audiences.

The BBC has repeatedly structured its stories around false statements and claims by the State of Israel, treating them as credible despite overwhelming evidence that Israel lies again and again and actually commits all war crimes and crimes against humanity in full light.

Palestinian voices received much less coverage and were prosecuted as if they were in the dock, which is not the case for pro-Israeli voices.

Atrocities and war crimes have been ignored and whitewashed. Studies denouncing war crimes have been ignored or received very limited coverage.

Palestinian life has been treated as having infinitely less value than Israeli life, while emotional terms such as “massacre” are reserved for Israeli victims rather than Palestinian victims, and humanizing words are proportionally used much more for Israeli victims than for Palestinian victims

While phrases like “Hamas-led Health Ministry” are incorporated as a norm to undermine confidence in Gaza’s death toll, basic facts like the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister are not.

The fact that there is a consensus among genocide specialists, including Israeli specialists on the subject, that Israel is committing genocide, has been suppressed, and these specialists have been erased.

We could continue.

This is the biggest Western journalism scandal of our time. These BBC journalists spoke out. Other journalists should do the same

SOURCE

************