[Marxism] BBC taking heat for bowing to Israel on airing ad for Gaza aid

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BBC under pressure to reverse Gaza appeal decision
Politicians and Muslim leaders describe broadcaster's refusal to show aid
appeal as inexplicable, feeble and dereliction of dutyComments (.) Nicholas
Watt and agencies guardian.co.uk, Saturday 24 January 2009 10.54 GMT  larger
| smaller Article history 

The BBC came under renewed pressure from the government today to "stand up"
to the Israeli authorities and broadcast an appeal to raise emergency funds
for Gaza.

Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, yesterday
rebuked Britain's broadcasters for refusing to air an emergency appeal for
Gaza by Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

In a letter to the BBC, Sky and ITV, Alexander expressed his
"disappointment" that the appeal would not be broadcast.

Today the health minister Ben Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, described
the decision not to screen the appeal as "inexplicable" and dismissed the
corporation's explanation for its position as "completely feeble".

The BBC refused to broadcast the humanitarian appeal for Gaza on the grounds
that it did not want to risk public confidence in its impartiality.

The decision meant other broadcasters also refused to air the appeal by the
committee, the umbrella group for 13 aid charities.

A BBC spokesperson said: "The decision was made because of question marks
about the delivery of aid in a volatile situation and also to avoid any risk
of compromising public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in the context
of [a] news story."

In his letter, Alexander said: "I write to express my disappointment at your
decision not to support the Disasters & Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza
Crisis Appeal. I met with DEC, along with other NGOs and charities,
yesterday to discuss their and the British government's humanitarian
response.

"As you know, the support of broadcasters is highly effective and extremely
valued by the group of charities and NGOs [non-governmental organisations]
who provide humanitarian relief under the DEC umbrella."

Alexander offered to mediate between the charities and the broadcasters. "I
understand from a statement issued to the press by the BBC that 'the
decision was made because of question marks about the delivery of aid in a
volatile situation'.

"I stand ready to facilitate discussions with NGOs and charities to seek to
address broadcasters' concerns on this point. The situation is developing on
the ground and I understand that Oxfam, Save the Children and others have
been able to get some aid into Gaza today."

In his reply to Alexander, the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, said:
"After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast
a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of
calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in
its coverage of the story as a whole ...

"We will continue to broadcast news about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
and, if appropriate, to cover the work of the UK NGOs on the ground. We
cannot, however, broadcast anything which we believe might compromise the
impartiality of the BBC's journalism."

The former cabinet minister Tony Benn will today join a protest against the
decision outside the BBC's Broadcasting House. He used an interview on BBC
Radio 4's Today programme to broadcast an appeal himself, urging listeners
to send gifts to PO Box 999 London EC3A 3AA, or donate via freepay account
1210 at the Post Office.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it viewed the BBC's decision to
disallow an appeal by the DEC for Gaza as "a serious dereliction of its
public duty".

In a statement, the MCB said: "We urge the corporation's governors to
urgently reverse its decision which would severely jeopardise efforts to
raise millions of pounds of voluntary contributions for emergency
humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

"In sabotaging the DEC appeal broadcast, the BBC is clearly acting against
the public interest. As custodians of the public trust in the BBC its
governors must act immediately to avoid the blame of being complicit in
denying humanitarian aid to the desperate people of Gaza."

The MCB secretary general, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, said: "The excuses given
by the BBC are simply untenable and the governors need to act quickly before
the corporation's image is irretrievably tarnished.

"The need [to] reverse this decision is even more compelling as the BBC's
coverage of the carnage in Gaza was very tame and not reflective of the
scale of the violations committed there."



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