The BBC has long been widely-acknowledged as one of the most anti-Israel media outlets in the western world.
So the BBC, in the midst of all these complaints, went out and commissioned an independent report on whether its reporting was biased. Presumably, it hoped to be able to use the report to clear its name. But, lo and behold, the report confirmed the bias… so now the BBC is trying to cover it up:
In 2004, the BBC decided to appoint editorial advisor Malcolm Balen to pile a report about the organization’s coverage of the Middle East conflict.The BBC refused to publish the full report although acknowledged that its reporting was biased against Israel.
Ynet has a document detailing the legal saga between the BBC and Attorney Steven Sugar, who filed a court petition demanding the BBC release the report.
The publicly-funded report, which comprises 20,000 words, was withheld by the Information Commission.
Sugar told Ynet that his motivation was his belief that the public is entitled to have the full picture, especially when it comes to the complicated and entangled Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Something tells me that Reuters, CNN and the Associated Press won’t be running out to commission similar reports, now… though I have little doubt of what they’d find.
(Hat tip: Stuart).