BBC CENSORS PLIGHT OF THE PALESTINIANS

Ameena Salem (active with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in the UK and keeps a close eye on the media’s coverage of Palestine as part of her brief; she has twice driven on convoys to Gaza for PSC) on BBC censorship of the plight of the Palestinians (2012): “One of the most obvious examples of bias by the BBC is the taxpayer-funded broadcaster’s habit of inviting Israeli politicians or the Israeli government spokesperson, Mark Regev, onto its programs to speak without challenge. Meanwhile, Palestinians and those who would convey a Palestinian perspective are not given the same opportunity. Film director Ken Loach recently learned that for the BBC, Palestine remains a taboo… [examples given] The result of all this is obvious bias shown against the Palestinians in the BBC’s broadcasts, whether it is by the complete omission of their story, the editing of comments which dare to mention their oppression, or the constant, relentless foisting of the Israeli narrative onto the audience. Is this really journalism? Those who pay their licence fee so that the BBC can broadcast all across the world — and those whose lives are affected by those broadcasts — deserve much better” (Ameena Salem, “Israeli lies unchecked, Palestinian perspectives censored on BBC”, Electronic Intifada, 24 August 2012: http://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-lies-unchecked-palestinian-perspectives-censored-bbc/11610 .)