Nearly a decade ago, in May 2013, we began documenting the BBC’s use of contributions or information sourced from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in its Israel related reporting as well as the corporation’s amplification of campaigns run by such bodies (see ‘related articles’ below).
BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality include a section titled ‘Contributors’ Affiliations’ which gives the following instruction to the corporation’s journalists:
“4.3.12 We should not automatically assume that contributors from other organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities and think-tanks) are unbiased. Appropriate information about their affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context.”
Nevertheless, that safeguard is all too often completely ignored in Middle East-related content sourced in one way or another from political NGOs and their representatives, despite the fact that those organisations are inherently agenda-driven. Throughout 2022 we documented additional examples.
January:
A campaign hooked to the subject of Covid vaccinations which was initiated by a group of political NGOs – some of which have a record of lawfare campaigns against Israel – that had already been widely promoted by the BBC in 2021 received additional coverage early in the year:
BBC NEWS RE-PROMOTES MISLEADING CLAIMS IT ALREADY CORRECTED LAST YEAR
Reporting on ‘protests’ in the Negev district featured one sole interviewee from an inadequately presented organisation called ‘Bedouins without Borders’:
PARTIAL PORTRAYAL OF NEGEV BEDOUIN RIOTING ON BBC WS RADIO
Another topic which had already seen considerable coverage in 2021 was a property dispute in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. A related story was reported by the BBC in January using contributions from ‘Peace Now’ activists and ‘Human Rights Watch’ together with a partisan map sourced from ‘B’Tselem’:
TEMPLATE BBC REPORTING ON SHEIKH JARRAH EVICTION
February:
In February the BBC provided amplification for a political campaign run by ‘Amnesty International’:
UNCRITICAL AMPLIFICATION OF AI’S ‘APARTHEID’ SMEAR FROM BBC NEWS
A radio report on the topic of allegations published by an Israeli newspaper (which later turned out to be unfounded) relied on one sole interviewee but failed to adequately inform audiences of his links to several political NGOs:
BBC WS RADIO’S ‘NEWSHOUR’ FAILS ON ‘CONTRIBUTORS’ AFFILIATIONS’ ONCE AGAIN
April:
The BBC recycled a filmed version of a report from 2020 which promoted allegations made by ‘Peace Now’ and ‘Ir Amim’:
BBC WORLD SERVICE TV RECYCLES PROBLEMATIC ‘INVESTIGATION’
May:
The BBC promoted a lawfare campaign run by several organisations including the ‘International Centre of Justice for Palestinians’:
BBC RADIO 4 NEWS DOES PR FOR LAWFARE
June:
BBC reporting on a campaign run by a group called ‘Mehazkim’ included a link to the website of ‘Passia’:
WHICH FLAG IS PORTRAYED BY BBC NEWS AS ‘PROVOCATIVE’?
A report about a visit to the region by the US president promoted a political campaign run by “human rights groups” including ‘Human Rights Watch’ and ‘DAWN’:
BBC FRAMING OF US PRESIDENT’S UPCOMING ME VISIT
A report on a story from India initially promoted a link to ‘Amnesty International UK’:
BBC NEWS PROMOTES ANTI-ISRAEL DOG WHISTLE IN INDIA REPORT
The BBC covered the trial of a former employee of ‘World Vision’ in both June and August, with the latter report also promoting ‘Human Rights Watch’:
BBC FRAMING OF THE ‘WORLD VISION’ TRIAL STORY
BBC REPORT AMPLIFIES THE ANTI-ISRAEL NGO ECHO CHAMBER
July:
The BBC promoted the ‘Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)’ and ‘Human Rights Watch’ in a report about a BDS campaign:
ONE YEAR ON, SAME INACCURATE BBC MESSAGING ON BDS
A campaign run by ‘Oxfam’ together with additional political NGOs including ‘Al Mezan’, ‘Medical Aid for Palestinians’, ‘Gisha’ and ‘Save the Children’ was amplified by the BBC:
BBC WORLD SERVICE RADIO BOLSTERS OXFAM POLITICAL CAMPAIGN
A campaign run by ‘B’Tselem’ was amplified in BBC reporting:
BBC’S BOWEN PROMOTES ‘APARTHEID’ SMEAR AND UNPROVEN ABU AKLEH CLAIM
BBC WIND IN THE ‘APARTHEID’ SMEAR’S SAILS
A report by ‘B’Tselem’ relating to the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin was promoted by a BBC journalist:
THE EMPTY SHELL OF BBC SOCIAL MEDIA USE GUIDANCE
August:
BBC reports relating to the designation of six Palestinian NGOs linked to the PFLP terrorist organisation promoted statements from two of them (Al Haq and Defence for Children International-Palestine) while failing to adequately inform audiences about their links to the PFLP:
BBC NEWS ‘OSTRICH MODE’ REPORTING ON PFLP LINKED NGOS
BBC reports on the outcome of a long-running court case promoted an activist who was not identified as being linked to ‘B’Tselem’ and comment from the advocacy director of the political NGO ‘Breaking the Silence’:
BBC JERUSALEM BUREAU ‘JOURNAVISM’ GOES TO MASAFER YATTA
September:
The BBC promoted a campaign run by ‘HaMoked’ with quotes from that NGO and another called ‘Right to Enter’:
BBC’S YOLANDE KNELL PROMOTES INACCURATE CLAIM IN APPARENT ‘CHURNALISM’
A BBC journalist based in Jerusalem promoted a report relating to the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin produced by the PFLP linked NGO ‘Al Haq’ and ‘Forensic Architecture’:
BBC’S BATEMAN IN THE NGO ECHO CHAMBER
October:
The PFLP linked NGOs ‘Al Haq’ and ‘DCI-Palestine’ were quoted in a report about the mostly terror/violence related deaths of Palestinians in 2022:
BBC’S TOM BATEMAN PROMOTES THE NARRATIVE OF DESIGNATED NGOS
November:
The BBC provided an opportunistic platform for the ‘Norwegian Refugee Council’:
BBC WS EXPLOITS ISRAEL ELECTION TO PROMOTE POLITICAL NGO’S TALKING POINTS
A partisan map provided by ‘B’Tselem’ appeared in a BBC report:
BBC’S KNELL AMPLIFIES PA TALKING POINTS ON AN AS YET NON-STORY
The PFLP linked NGO ‘DCI-Palestine’ was again promoted by one of the BBC Jerusalem bureau staff:
BBC’S BATEMAN PROMOTES PFLP LINKED NGO YET AGAIN
Another BBC report about the outcome of a long-running court case again promoted an activist who was not identified as being linked to ‘B’Tselem’ as well as ‘Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF):
THE BBC’S ONE-SIDED MASAFER YATTA CAMPAIGNING CONTINUES
December:
Reports about the deportation of a person convicted of planning a murder promoted ‘HaMoked’, ‘Amnesty International’ and the PFLP linked NGO ‘Addameer’:
BBC NEWS AGAIN GIVES CONTEXT-FREE PROMOTION TO NGO CAMPAIGNING
INACCURACIES IN BBC REPORTS ON HAMMOURI DEPORTATION
A report about the death of a member of the PA security forces involved in violence promoted and quoted ‘B’Tselem’:
BBC JERUSALEM BUREAU REPORTER COMMENDED BY ‘ELECTRONIC INTIFADA’
Reports from Hebron promoted an NGO called ‘Human Rights Defenders’ as well as ‘Breaking the Silence’:
BBC’S BATEMAN AGAIN PROMOTES CLAIMS FROM POLITICAL NGOS
Once again in 2022 the foreign and domestic NGOs quoted, promoted and interviewed by the BBC come overwhelmingly from one side of the spectrum as far as their political approach to Israel is concerned. Some of them are active in ‘lawfare’ and propaganda campaigns against Israel and three of the NGOs featured repeatedly in BBC content in the last five months of the year are linked to the PFLP terrorist organisation.
Nevertheless, the BBC serially fails to meet its own editorial guidelines by clarifying the “particular viewpoint”, affiliations and sources of funding of NGOs and their representatives. As in previous years, BBC audiences hence once again remained unaware of the fact that the information they receive about stories concerning Israel is consistently unbalanced and non-transparent.
Related Articles:
Promoted and quoted: the BBC’s preferred Middle East NGOs
Promoted and quoted: the BBC’s preferred NGO contributors in 2014
Promoted and quoted: the BBC’s preferred NGO contributors in 2015
Promoted and quoted: the BBC’s preferred NGO contributors in 2016
Promoted and quoted: the BBC’s preferred NGO contributors in 2017
Promoted and quoted: the BBC’s preferred NGO contributors in 2018
PROMOTED AND QUOTED: THE BBC’S PREFERRED NGO CONTRIBUTORS IN 2019
PROMOTED AND QUOTED: THE BBC’S PREFERRED NGO CONTRIBUTORS IN 2020
PROMOTED AND QUOTED: THE BBC’S PREFERRED NGO CONTRIBUTORS IN 2021
All of which goes to show that the BBC is an unruly, unregulated, biased and bigoted organisation that refuses to adhere to its own rules and regulations when it comes to reporting on anything it can possibly shoehorn Israel into. The government must either force it to reveal its true source of funding or allow the British public not to pay to this unaccountable entity. The general public are sick of being forced to fund the likes of these multi millionaire football pundits like Lineker to spout their own politicised opinions. #defundthebbc