ITV breaks with BBC in Gaza row

Source: BBC News


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7848673.stm

in fact Douglas Alexander the International Development Secretary criticized the BBC for this decision. There are probably certain individuals in the BBC who felt that broadcasting the appeal would help Hamas, or show partiality, etc.

FWIW I think the decision is just wrong. This is a purely humanitarian appeal, by a combination of respectable charities, and goodness knows, plenty of humanitarian aid goes to regions with bad governments - why make an exception here?

for Easter Island or Nepal or Grenada. Hold 'em to it. Just angry. Just words.

The Palestinians are getting the raw end of everything.

I hope their is a minute to the program for them to add the latest: tungsten = cancer from scrapnel- developed in the U.S:

www.dec.org.uk/index.html

Mr Benn said: "I never thought I would live to see (the BBC) refuse to broadcast a humanitarian appeal on the grounds that it was controversial.

"I know why it is - because (Tzipi) Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, has said there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"The BBC raised £10m for the Congo and £18m for Burma. That decision is denying the aid agencies money they desperately need. People are dying in Gaza. There's an absolute crisis in Gaza."

Well said Mr. Benn.

How next will the knife be twisted in the wound for the palestinian refugees?

if anyone remembers therewas a report a couple of years back about the BBC's being anti Israel

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=qHR&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=bbc+anti+Israel&spell=1

there are numerous stories
If this is the case I would say Israel's supporters have scores an "admirable" win hopefully they're proud of their "accomplishment"

gets criticized and called Anti-Semitic, or worse somehow pro-terrorist..

The BushCo "Them vs. Us" mentality is what led us to the Cold War.

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or get the news agencies to redact statements they deemed 'biased.'

like I said quite an accomplishment

Ministers step into row over corporation's refusal to show charities' plea for donations to Gaza

<snip>

"The BBC was engaged in a war of words with ministers last night over its refusal to broadcast an urgent appeal for humanitarian aid to Gaza. Government figures, aid workers and BBC staff expressed outrage that the corporation has not backed down, as some of its rivals did yesterday, and broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal. The BBC said yesterday it was concerned that access to aid in Gaza might be problematic, and that it did not want to endanger the public's perception of the impartiality of its reporting.

The BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons expressed concern that the "level and tone" of the political comments were "coming close to constituting undue interference in the political independence" of the corporation.

Channel 4, Five, ITV and al-Jazeera English announced they will be airing the DEC appeal tomorrow, after initially falling in behind the BBC. Sky News was considering its position last night.

Public figures were outraged by the broadcaster's decision not to air the appeal, calling it a "terrible mistake". One former senior BBC journalist referred to "a culture of timidity". The BBC has previously aired DEC pleas for humanitarian help in volatile regions such as Congo and Burma.

Yesterday a march that had been organised to complain about the BBC's alleged pro-Israel bias, which began outside Broadcasting House, was given new focus by the row.

The director-general, Mark Thompson, stood by his decision last night, despite critics' attempts to draw a distinction between politics and aid.

The row once again pitted the Government against the BBC, six years on from the David Kelly controversy. It raised further questions over the judgement of senior BBC officials weeks after the Ross/Brand affair.

In an unusual intervention by a cabinet minister, the International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, wrote to Mr Thompson on Friday urging him to reconsider, but Whitehall sources said the BBC seemed determined not to back down. The health minister Ben Bradshaw, a former BBC journalist, said the decision was "inexplicable" and called the corporation's justification "completely feeble". The Communities and Local Government Secretary, Hazel Blears, added: "I sincerely hope the BBC will urgently review its decision."

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