Twelve years of ‘escalation’ framing from the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen

On the morning of October 26^th, the BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen appeared on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme (from 10:17 here) in an item relating to strikes carried out by Israel’s air force overnight in response to Iran’s missile attacks on October 1^st .

Presenter Nick Robinson’s introduction of Bowen included the following: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]

Robinson: “On one level, people may describe this as limited or targeted or precise but to see, to hear, Israeli jets flying over the Iranian capital is a reminder that this is another dramatic escalation.”

Bowen: “Yeah, the Middle East war is escalating. I think we can absolutely say that. The evidence is there.”

Visitors to the BBC News website’s ‘Middle East’ page on the same day found a short filmed report by Jeremy Bowen in which he was again keen to frame the events as an “escalation”.

“As footage of the aftermath of the air strikes on Iran emerges, the BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen explains this is another big escalation in the deepening war in the Middle East.”

Bowen told viewers that:

“This whole awful episode of exchanges started with Israel attacking the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus earlier in the year. This is another big escalation in this widening and deepening war in the Middle East.”

Also on October 26^th, the BBC News website published a written report by Bowen titled “Bowen: Iran faces hard choices between risks of escalation or looking weak” in which readers are told that:

“Israel’s attack on Iran deepens the war in the Middle East. Avoiding, or risking, an even worse escalation is at the heart of decisions being taken by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his key advisors.”

And:

“Israel has set the pace of escalation since the spring.”

And:

“But since the summer, Israel has repeatedly escalated the war with Iran and its axis of allies and proxies.”

Those wondering whether or not Bowen had similarly portrayed Iran’s October 1^st attacks on Israel with 181 ballistic missiles as an ‘escalation’ only have to refer to an article he wrote the following day titled “Bowen: Iran wanted to do real damage, and Israel’s response may not be as restrained as last time”. The word ‘escalation’ does not appear in that report in relation to the Iranian attacks. Instead, Bowen preferred to describe them as “retaliating”:

“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps put out an announcement saying that they were retaliating to the killings of senior leaders in Hamas and Hezbollah, and warned that if Israel retaliated, in turn they would strike back.”

The word ‘escalation’ did however appear in a report by Bowen published the day after the previous attacks on Israel by Iran on April 13^th – but, again, not in relation to Iran’s actions. In that report titled “Bowen: As Israel debates Iran attack response, can US and allies stop slide into all-out war?”, BBC audiences were told that the ‘escalation’ had begun on April 1^st:

“This most recent escalation of the war that has spread across the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel began two weeks ago, when Israel attacked Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus. The air strike, on 1 April, killed a senior general, his number two and other aides.”

Readers may recall that the ‘escalation’ narrative was also prominent in reports written by Jeremy Bowen between September 18^th and September 24^th concerning events in Lebanon.

“We are seeing yet another very large escalation by the Israelis.”

JEREMY BOWEN FRAMES THE LEBANON STORY FOR BBC AUDIENCES

As we all know, the current war began on October 7^th 2023 when the Iran-backed terrorist organisation Hamas attacked Israel, slaughtering hundreds of civilians and taking hundreds more hostage. The war’s northern front opened the following day when the Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, the terrorist organisation Hizballah, launched unprovoked attacks on Israel and it has continued with attacks by additional Iranian proxies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria as well as by Iran itself. 

As far as the BBC’s international editor is concerned, however, only the actions of the country attacked by multiple terror actors on multiple fronts merit portrayal as ‘escalation’. And – as long-time readers may recall – there is in fact nothing new about that.

Twelve years ago, in November 2012, the IDF launched an operation in the Gaza Strip following weeks of Hamas rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli civilian communities. On the day that operation began, Jeremy Bowen appeared on BBC television to inform audiences that:

“The assassination of the head of the Hamas armed wing, Ahmed al Jabari, is a deliberate escalation by Israel“.

As was observed here at the time, the firing of hundreds of military-grade missiles at Israeli civilians before Jabari was eliminated was not deemed an ‘escalation’ by Bowen and his colleagues.

In other words, there is nothing remotely original about Jeremy Bowen’s employment of such uninformative and one-sided ‘escalation’ framing or his deliberate failure to distinguish between indiscriminate attacks on civilians and strikes on military targets. Sadly for members of the BBC’s funding public though, Bowen’s politically motivated narratives do not contribute to their understanding of the events he is supposedly reporting. 

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