CAIRO, May 3, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The BBC's coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is "inconsistent, incomplete and misleading", failing to adequately report the hardships of Palestinians living under occupation, according to an independent review.
"In short, we found BBC output does not consistently give a full and fair account of the conflict," said the report commissioned by the corporation's board of governors, The Independent reported on Wednesday, May 3.
It said that the BBC failed to "constitute a full and fair account of the conflict but rather, in important respects, presents an incomplete and in that sense misleading picture."
There were gaps in the BBC's analysis, context and perspective as well as a failure to consistently uphold editorial standards, it maintained.
Broadcast news lacked historical background, stories were often not put in the wider context, added the panel.
The report, however, said there was "no deliberate or systematic bias" in the BBC's reporting of the region.
The review was carried out by a four-man panel chaired by British Board of Film Classification President Sir Quentin Thomas.
The team was appointed by the BBC's board of governors last October to address the high volume of complaints.
Hardships Ignored
The report said the BBC failed to adequately report the hardships of Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation.
The independent panel said the BBC has failed to adequately report the hardships of Palestinians living under the yoke of the Israeli occupation.
"There was little reporting of the difficulties faced by the Palestinians in their daily lives," it noted.
The report accused the BBC of failing to convey adequately the disparity in the Israeli and Palestinian experience, reflecting the fact that one side is in control and the other lives under occupation.
It stressed that television should not be "dazzled by striking, and available pictures".
"When the Israelis suffer it is usually from a terrorist attack... which necessarily constitutes a newsworthy event... In recent years, many more Palestinians have been killed but usually in circumstances which are less dramatic and give rise to less striking images," the report said.
The Council for Arab-British Understanding said "the panel quite correctly highlighted that there was little reporting of the difficulties faced by Palestinians in their daily lives."
Recommendations
The investigating panel recommended that the BBC should appoint a "guiding hand" to oversee its reporting and provide more historical context and analysis.
It advised the British corporation to consider the case for basing a correspondent in the occupied West Bank.
The panel said the BBC should use "terrorism" to describe violence against civilians with the intention of causing terror for ideological objectives, "whether perpetrated by state or non-state agencies."
The BBC journalists are also advised to avoid the term "terrorist" because it can be "a barrier to understanding."
The review recommended that the BBC should do more to put the conflict in context for viewers.
This could include doing more to direct viewers to resources offering more depth and background.
BBC chairman Michael Grade said the report's finding of no deliberate or systematic bias was "reassuring", according to the BBC News Online.
"The panel found much to praise, but it also identified some shortcomings in the BBC's coverage," he said.
"We have asked BBC management to consider the panel's recommendations and respond to us at our June board meeting."
Click to read the independent review
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