The BBC’s coverage of Israel and the war with Hamas in Gaza should be subject to a “deep, systematic” review, according to the corporation’s chairman Samir Shah.
“The Israel-Gaza story is a very complicated story and there are very strong emotions on both sides,” he told the House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee.
“I chair the editorial guidelines and standards committee and that is part of the process where complaints are discussed, talked about and addressed.”
Shah said that he believed the conflict between Israel and Hamas should be the subject of the next “thematic review” conducted by the BBC.
Appearing alongside Shah on the committee BBC director-general Tim Davie insisted the corporation took every complaint about their coverage seriously, including against the BBC Arabic service.
He said: “We will look at that piece of research, take it seriously, in good faith. Every accusation we’ve had on the Arabic service we have looked at. Now, the issue is not everyone agrees with the outcome. We’ve taken disciplinary action.
“Broadly, I think we are doing a very good job and the research that we have into the overall public response is good. But that doesn’t mean we are perfect.”
Davie added: “We take complaints seriously. We’ll go through them, and we won’t just be, frankly, in auto-defence. But we also stand up for our journalists. We’ll stand up for people doing a good job.”
The pair spoke after an AI-driven review published by a British lawyer Trevor Asserson, who runs Israel’s largest international law firm, claimed the BBC had downplayed the terrorism of Hamas.
And that it had broken its own editorial guidelines more than 1500 times in its reporting of the conflict.
Responding to the findings, the BBC said it had “serious questions” about the methodology of the report.
In Tuesday’s session, Shah was asked about how the corporation was responding to complaints about its coverage of the Middle East.
“The Middle East conflict is one area we should consider very seriously to be subject to a deep, systematic analysis of how we cover it,” said Shah. “It’s a very difficult story.
“In my time — and I’ve been doing it for 40 years — this is one thing that has really resulted in lots and lots of concern on all sides.
“I think it’s the duty of the board, because the BBC plays such a big role in reporting on the Middle East conflict to the rest of the world, that we do take time out and do an analysis, a review, of that coverage.”
Director-general Davie told the committee: “The research that we have in terms of the overall public response is good but that does not mean we’re perfect.
“We will treat these complaints seriously and we won’t be, frankly, in auto-defence. But also, we will stand up for our journalists and stand up for people doing a good job.”
- Story reprinted with permission from Jewish News.