The Telegraph’s Michael Deacon highlights the irony of BBC reporters accusing the broadcaster of bias towards Israel. Here’s an excerpt:
The BBC has been accused of bias in its coverage of Gaza. Nothing unusual there, you might think. But wait. There’s a twist.
This time, it’s been accused of bias towards Israel.
The accusation comes from none other than a group of the BBC’s own reporters. Eight of them, all unnamed, have sent a letter to the Qatari news organisation Al Jazeera, alleging that, on the BBC, “humanising coverage of Palestinian civilians has been lacking”, and that “the positions taken by governments in the U.K. and U.S. have undue influence on coverage”.
The letter is no doubt heartfelt. I wonder, though, if there are one or two tiny things its writers have overlooked.
Perhaps, for example, they’ve forgotten about the BBC’s refusal to refer to Hamas as terrorists – even though, in Britain, that’s how Hamas is officially classified. They may also have forgotten about the time one of the BBC’s news anchors misreported a story from Reuters to suggest that Israel was “targeting” medical staff. …
Only the other day, the BBC’s best-paid presenter, Gary Lineker, urged his 8.9 million followers on Twitter/X to watch a video in which an academic accuses Israel of committing “textbook genocide”. So, if the BBC does indeed favour Israel, this bias does not appear to be shared by all its top staff.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Mail reports that thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators have filled Central London, chanting the controversial ‘From the river to the sea’ slogan, leading to the first arrest by the Met Police amidst warnings about hate speech.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.