BBC apologises for handling of complaints about anti-Israel bias

Per Jonathan Sacerdoti, in today’s Jewish Chronicle:

The BBC has apologised for years of “unacceptable” handling of complaints about anti-Israel bias in its Arabic output, which activists say represented a “disdainful” attitude towards Jewish concerns.

It is an early victory in the JC campaign to restore impartiality to the broadcaster. Our petition demanding a parliamentary inquiry into its coverage of Jews and Israel is approaching 6,000 signatures and can be signed at theJC.com/BBCPetition.

Since the Gaza war in May 2021, BBC responses to complaints about Israel coverage have taken up to a year, with some ignored completely. Even when complaints are acknowledged and upheld, issuing corrections is often delayed further or in some cases is not done at all.

The BBC Charter requires a framework that provides “transparent, accessible, effective, timely and proportionate methods” of fixing problems.

According to BBC rules, this means addressing complaints within 10 working days when possible. But it has taken the BBC an average of four months to respond to a watchdog’s complaints about its Israel coverage in Arabic, with half of complaints ignored.

“Out of our 26 complaints, only seven received a proper, timely response and resolution,” said a spokesperson for CAMERA.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We apologise for the unacceptable delay and will ensure formal responses are issued as soon as possible.”

Since May last year, 14 of CAMERA’s 26 complaints were upheld by the BBC, with some corrections only acted upon after many weeks. None were rejected.

But a further 14 received no response, though three of these were later quietly corrected without acknowledgement, the watchdog says

Read the rest of the article, here.

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