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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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12th November 2003
Media Monitoring: BBC appoints ‘Middle East Police Man’ amid accusations of pro-Palestinian bias.
IHRC is deeply concerned that the BBC has taken the unprecedented step of appointing an advisor cum monitor of its news output regarding the Israeli / Palestinian issue.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Malcolm Balen has been appointed to “to oversee its coverage of the region amid mounting allegations of anti-Israeli bias.” Balen has been appointed as a \”senior editorial adviser\”.
IHRC is concerned on two points:
(1) This is censorship and curtails the rights of free speech and undermines journalistic integrity
(2) The claims implicit and explicit that the BBC is pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli bear no resemblance to reality with regard to television news reporting of the issue. IHRC suggest campaigners read the following articles for greater insight into the operation of pro-Israeli bias in news media:
(i) The excellent research by the University of Glasgow into reporting of the Palestine / Israel issue, ‘Bad News From Israel: media reporting of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict.’
http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/sociology/Israel.pdf
(ii) ‘Israel and the Media’ by John Pilger
http://www.medialens.org/articles_2002/jp_israel_media.html
It seems clear from the above that television news in particular exhibits pro-Israeli bias and has helped to demonise the Palestinians.
Balen’s appointment was made jointly by Richard Sambrook, the director of BBC News, and Mark Byford, the head of the World Service, both of whom are part of the BBC’s Executive Committee. IHRC requests that campaigners write to the BBC to complain about this appointment and demand that the appointment be withdrawn and the post scrapped. Please write to the Director General, Greg Dyke as head of the Executive Committee and Gavyn Davies OBE as Chairman of the BBC Governors which appoints the Executive Committee.
Send your complaints to:
Greg Dyke
Director-General
BBC,
Broadcasting House,
London W1A 1AA.
info@bbc.co.uk
Gavyn Davies OBE
Chair of Governors
BBC,
Broadcasting House,
London W1A 1AA.
info@bbc.co.uk
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Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom
Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Fax (+44) 20 8904 5183
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org
