BBC’s anti-Israel bias becoming very dangerous

 

Story by Danny Cohen

BBC News is plunging new depths when it comes to its reporting of the Israel-Hamas war. In doing so, it is bringing shame on a publicly-funded organisation.

Earlier this month, BBC News CEO Deborah Turness was asked in Parliament about a column I had written for this newspaper about the anti-Israel bias of journalists working for its heavily promoted BBC Verify brand. An investigation had found that a source used by the BBC for its Gaza coverage was a journalist who apparently worked for a news agency associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which is committed to Israel’s destruction. The journalist’s social-media timeline also contained anti-Semitic material.

When challenged on this at a House of Lords committee, Ms Turness’s response was very revealing. First, she dismissed the reporting because it was “positioned in a hostile media outlet” – The Telegraph. This is a remarkable thing to say. It suggests that the BBC’s approach is to ignore legitimate criticism if it does not like where it comes from.

The idea that you can dismiss evidence of journalistic malpractice because it is in a newspaper you don’t like reveals institutional arrogance and political bias. It enables the BBC to remain immune to criticism rather than act to remedy the problems with its reporting of the war.

Even worse were the BBC News CEO’s claims of transparency. Ms Turness told the Committee that the BBC is “very clear about where it sources” its reporting from and that the BBC had been “transparent in our account and in our journalism”.

To say that this was economical with the truth would be generous. The BBC Verify report that Ms Turness was referring to certainly did not disclose that one of its key sources appeared to be a man who celebrates the deaths of Jews and receives payments from Iran. This amounts to gaslighting of a parliamentary committee as well as Britain’s Jewish community.

To be fair to the corporation, the BBC did say that it would look into the issues raised. But those who hoped that something would change will feel very disappointed. Over the weekend, the researcher David Collier disclosed that another high-profile BBC exclusive was based on the reporting of a number of sources for whom impartiality does not appear to be part of the job description.

The report in question accused Israel of abusing Palestinian medics and was given great prominence by the BBC as the lead story on its News website. But Collier’s investigation suggested that the story relied on a group of reporters and sources who have worn their anti-Israel bias as a badge of pride.

First, there’s BBC employee Soha Ibrahim, who is reported to have liked a social-media post that said Hamas are “freedom fighters”. Then there’s BBC reporter Marie-Jose Al Azzi, who once called for the boycotting of Israel. Alongside them were “eye-witnesses” such as Dr Atef Hout, who had previously appeared to celebrate a rocket attack on Israeli civilians.

Once again – and just days after Ms Turness’s appearance in Parliament – BBC News was relying on the reporting and accounts of people who seem to have expressed egregious bias against Israel. The fact that this all came under the banner of BBC Verify – which the corporation has claimed to be a new gold standard in journalistic verification and forensic quality – would be the stuff of parody if it were not so serious.

The BBC has been on notice for many months that it has a serious problem with anti-Israel bias in its newsroom. This means that it has also had months to address it. And yet nothing seems to have changed. How can this happen and keep happening? The answer can only be one of two things: either senior BBC managers don’t care about this ongoing bias and are happy to let it continue, or they can’t control it. Either is a gross dereliction of their duty.

It is also a terrible failure of responsibility by the BBC in an environment in which anti-Semitism is exponentially on the rise and Britain’s Jewish community feels under a level of threat that many have not experienced in their lifetimes. The BBC is contributing to this poisonous atmosphere with reporting that is biased and highly emotive.

It is now more than five months since the October 7 attacks. The BBC’s errors, missteps and bias against Israel is being repeated again and again. At some point, someone in BBC management needs to take responsibility for these continuing and dangerous failures. I believe that time has now come and the CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, should consider her position.

Danny Cohen was the director of BBC Television from 2013 - 2015