TonyGosling
Editor
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 18335
Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
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 Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject: BBC Israel/Palestine bias report - will it remain secret? |
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This stuff does smack of meanness with licence fee payers money and over-sensitivity by the BBC. If they have nothing to hide why not publish the report.
BBC continues to suppress study on Middle East 'bias'
26 January 2008
One man's battle to force the BBC to disclose an internal report on its coverage of the Middle East has been dealt a further blow.
Three Court of Appeal judges rejected a challenge by Steven Sugar, a commercial solicitor from Putney, south-west London, to overturn a High Court ruling which rejected his claim that the contents of the report should be made public under the Freedom of Information Act.
Mr Sugar may now decide to take his case to the House of Lords. He argues that the 20,000-page report by Malcolm Balen should be published as part of the debate about a perceived anti-Israeli bias at the BBC.
But the BBC argues that, under the Freedom of Information Act, it is exempt from disclosing information held for the purposes of "journalism, art or literature". The broadcaster contends the report was always intended as an internal review to help shape future policy on its Middle East coverage and was never intended for publication..........
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/bbc-bids-to-suppress-study-on- middle-east-bias-774282.html
BBC accused of wasting licence fee in battle to suppress 'Mid-East' bias report
By PAUL REVOIR - Daily Mail - 25th January 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.htm l?in_article_id=510461&in_page_id=1773
£1/4m price of silence: BBC has spent a fortune trying to block plublication of a report into its alleged bias
The BBC has spent an estimated £250,000 in licence-fee cash on a court battle to block publication of a report into its alleged bias when covering the Middle East.
The expensive saga was prompted by a member of the public who has repeatedly tried to force the document's release under the Freedom of Information Act.
Yesterday the broadcaster fought off a renewed attempt to force public disclosure of the so-called Balen Report.
But anger is growing over the corporation's secrecy – and the amount of money which has already been soaked up by the case.
Apart from wasting money, the BBC has also been accused of hypocrisy since its staff regularly use the Freedom of Information Act to source news stories............
| Quote: | BBC's coverage of Israeli-Palestinian conflict 'misleading'
· Study finds failures in news balance and depth
· Reports said to show little to suggest deliberate bias (oh well, that's all right then, it's only genocide)
# Owen Gibson, media correspondent
# The Guardian,
# Wednesday May 3 2006
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday May 03 2006 on p16 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 07:09 on May 03 2006.
The BBC's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "incomplete" and "misleading", including failing to adequately report the hardships of Palestinians living under occupation, an independent review commissioned by the corporation's board of governors has found.
The report urges the BBC to be bolder in setting a policy for using the word "terrorism" to describe acts of violence perpetrated against either side and suggests a senior editorial figure should be appointed to "give more secure planning, grip and oversight".
The latest of several reports into contentious areas of the BBC's news provision, it praised the quality of much of its coverage and found "little to suggest deliberate or systematic bias" but listed a series of "identifiable shortcomings".
Chaired by the British Board of Film Classification president, Sir Quentin Thomas, the review said output failed to consistently "constitute a full and fair account of the conflict but rather, in important respects, presents an incomplete and in that sense misleading picture".
The panel, which also included former ITN chief executive Professor Stewart Purvis, said the BBC should not let its own requirements of balance and impartiality become a "straitjacket" that prevented it from properly relaying the "dual narrative" of both sides.
In particular, it highlighted a "failure to convey adequately the disparity in the Israeli and Palestinian experience, reflecting the fact that one side is in control and the other lives under occupation".
On the emotive issue of whether acts of violence perpetrated against either side should be called "terrorism", the review said the BBC should use the term because it is "clear and well understood" and that once it had decided on a policy for the correct use of language it should be more consistent in applying it.
Like other major media organisations, the BBC regularly deals with a flood of complaints from both sides.
An internal BBC News review, led by senior editorial adviser Malcolm Balen, led to greater resources being allocated to the Middle East and the appointment of a specific editor, veteran foreign correspondent Jeremy Bowen. But the review said more should be done to provide a stronger editorial "guiding hand".
The BBC should do more to put the conflict in context for viewers, it said. This could include doing more to direct viewers to resources offering more depth and background. Too often, it suggested, news stories were chosen on the basis of the pictures available to accompany them.
The recommendations met with some disquiet among BBC News managers, who felt the appointment of a senior editorial figure to oversee all output on the topic would contradict the findings of a review following the Hutton inquiry.
"We are confident we have the right editorial structures and processes in place to provide high quality, impartial journalism and to ensure we continue to make progress in developing the authority and comprehensiveness of our output," said BBC News management in a statement.
The Council for Arab-British Understanding said "the panel quite correctly highlighted that there was little reporting of the difficulties faced by Palestinians in their daily lives".
Daniel Shek, of the British Israel Communications & Research Centre, said: "The report argues that the Israelis and Palestinians are not on equal terms, since the Israelis possess a fully functioning state and the Palestinians do not. It then implies that an imbalance in BBC coverage could be acceptable. If such an argument absolves the BBC from offering balanced reporting then it is a slippery slope towards biased coverage."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/may/03/israel.broadcasting |
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Last edited by TonyGosling on Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Whitehall_Bin_Men
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 13 Jan 2007
Posts: 3205
Location: Westminster, LONDON, SW1A 2HB.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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Anti-Israel bias my foot. Now it looks like we'll see.
House of Lords rule against BBC on release of bias report
Frances Gibb
A lawyer has won the backing of the House of Lords in his campaign to force the BBC to disclose an internal report on perceived bias in its coverage of the Middle East.
The law lords ruled 3-2 that a case brought by Steven Sugar under the Freedom of Information Act was blocked wrongly by earlier court rulings.
The case – the first on freedom of information to reach the House of Lords – now returns to the High Court for further argument.
Mr Sugar, a commercial solicitor from Putney, southwest London, argues that the 20,000-word report by Malcolm Balen, a senior news editor, should be published as part of the debate about a perceived anti-Israeli bias at the BBC.
The BBC contends that it is exempt from disclosing information held for the purposes of “journalism, art or literature”. The report, it said, was always intended as an internal review to help to shape future policy on its Middle East coverage and was never intended for publication.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article5712217.ece
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'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com
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Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing." |
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