We are concerned at the very partial nature of BBC reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While some reporters have shown great bravery in war zones, much home-based journalism lacks context and is unable to report the Palestinian perspective. The attacks on Gaza are presented by Israel and the BBC as being directed at militants, while for Palestinians they are an extension of military rule and collective punishment by a brutal apartheid state. This inability to report the reality of the Israeli occupation has been repeatedly shown by academic studies and reports, including that led by Quentin Thomas, commissioned by the BBC, which noted the « 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 », and said: « In short, we found that BBC output does not consistently give a full and fair account of the conflict. » (Thomas, 2006: 4-7) The BBC has failed to act on any of these findings. The search for peace is not well served by giving the public such a partial and limited view. We ask now that the BBC produce a televised, public debate to discuss how to redress the deficiencies in its coverage to offer a better account of the sources of this conflict and therefore how it might be resolved. The letter is signed by: Professor Greg Philo Professor Avi Shlaim Professor John Eldridge Professor Natalie Fenton Professor Julian Petley Professor Ilan Pappe Professor John Dugard Professor Etienne Balibar Professor Graham Murdoch Professor Justin Lewis Professor David Miller Professor Alan Riach Professor Hilary Rose Professor Steven Rose Professor Gilbert Achar Sir Peter Bottomley MP Linda Riordan MP Jim Fitzpatrick MP Michael Connarty MP David Ward MP John McDonnell MP Jeremy Corbyn MP Grahame Morris MP Caroline Lucas MP Mark Durkan MP Yasmin Qureshi MP Andrew Slaughter MP Barones Jenny Tonge Christine Grahame MSP Jean Urquhart MSP Juliet Stevenson Roger Waters Alice Walker Breyten Breytenbach Mike Leigh Ken Loach John Pilger Trevor Griffiths Mairead Maguire Dennis Halliday Bella Freud Frank Barat Mustapha Barghouti Ghada Karmi Gerda Stevenson Pam Parsons Mike Berry Aimee Shalan Hugh Lanning Shamiul Joarder Diana Buttu Linda Ramsden Jeff Halper Hatim Kanaaneh Karma Nabulsi Paul Laverty John Hilary planpalestine.org/call-for-a-bbc-debate-on-israel-palestine-coverage/
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 21:37:56 +0000
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