Broadcaster row over Gaza appeal grows - 25th Jan 2009 2:40am
ITV, Channel 4 and Five have said they will air a charity appeal for Gaza as the BBC is slammed for refusing to screen it.
The Disasters Emergency Committee appeal hopes to raise millions of pounds for Palestinians suffering after Israel's three-week bombardment of the region by airing the plea on television and radio from Monday.
But the BBC claims that showing the appeal by DEC - which brings together several major aid charities including the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam - might compromise its impartiality.
In London, thousands of protesters joined a demonstration, while a string of politicians, including senior Government ministers, urged the corporation to reconsider its decision not to broadcast the DEC appeal.
An ITV spokesman said: "After careful consideration, and in consultation with other networks, a common consensus has been reached by the majority of broadcasters and as a result ITV will broadcast a DEC appeal."
And terrestrial television channel Five later announced that it is also joining ITV and Channel 4 in broadcasting the appeal, saying: "Five feels this is an urgent humanitarian situation which transcends politics and has taken the decision to show the Gaza appeal."
But BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons voiced concern that comments made by politicians are coming close to "undue interference" in the BBC's editorial independence.
He said that the judgment on whether the broadcast should be shown was not for the Trust, which oversees the Corporation on behalf of the public, but for the BBC's senior editorial executives, led by director general Mark Thompson.
On Friday night, Mr Thompson rejected a plea from International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander to screen the appeal.
"After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole," he said.
His argument was dismissed as "completely feeble" by health minister Ben Bradshaw, while Communities Secretary Hazel Blears called on the BBC to review its decision and urged the public to continue donating to the appeal.
Former Labour minister Tony Benn told those who marched in London: "People are dying in Gaza and if the appeal was made they would get the resources they need. It's not about the BBC. Millions of pounds will be raised by an appeal. People who are dying in Gaza would get the materials and supplies they need."
Justice minister Shahid Malik, who was Britain's first Muslim minister, said of the row: "In a flawed attempt to be viewed as impartial, the BBC has managed to achieve the exact opposite.
"This issue is not about contentious notions of impartiality but about the unequivocal reality of human suffering on the ground - ultimately about saving lives and alleviating unnecessary pain.
Sadly, across the globe the BBC's decision will be viewed as one which inflicts still further misery on the beleaguered and suffering people of Gaza. The BBC ought to take the advice of Douglas Alexander, reconsider its decision and do the decent thing.
ITN NEWS
The Disasters Emergency Committee appeal hopes to raise millions of pounds for Palestinians suffering after Israel's three-week bombardment of the region by airing the plea on television and radio from Monday.
But the BBC claims that showing the appeal by DEC - which brings together several major aid charities including the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam - might compromise its impartiality.
In London, thousands of protesters joined a demonstration, while a string of politicians, including senior Government ministers, urged the corporation to reconsider its decision not to broadcast the DEC appeal.
An ITV spokesman said: "After careful consideration, and in consultation with other networks, a common consensus has been reached by the majority of broadcasters and as a result ITV will broadcast a DEC appeal."
And terrestrial television channel Five later announced that it is also joining ITV and Channel 4 in broadcasting the appeal, saying: "Five feels this is an urgent humanitarian situation which transcends politics and has taken the decision to show the Gaza appeal."
But BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons voiced concern that comments made by politicians are coming close to "undue interference" in the BBC's editorial independence.
He said that the judgment on whether the broadcast should be shown was not for the Trust, which oversees the Corporation on behalf of the public, but for the BBC's senior editorial executives, led by director general Mark Thompson.
On Friday night, Mr Thompson rejected a plea from International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander to screen the appeal.
"After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public's confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole," he said.
His argument was dismissed as "completely feeble" by health minister Ben Bradshaw, while Communities Secretary Hazel Blears called on the BBC to review its decision and urged the public to continue donating to the appeal.
Former Labour minister Tony Benn told those who marched in London: "People are dying in Gaza and if the appeal was made they would get the resources they need. It's not about the BBC. Millions of pounds will be raised by an appeal. People who are dying in Gaza would get the materials and supplies they need."
Justice minister Shahid Malik, who was Britain's first Muslim minister, said of the row: "In a flawed attempt to be viewed as impartial, the BBC has managed to achieve the exact opposite.
"This issue is not about contentious notions of impartiality but about the unequivocal reality of human suffering on the ground - ultimately about saving lives and alleviating unnecessary pain.
Sadly, across the globe the BBC's decision will be viewed as one which inflicts still further misery on the beleaguered and suffering people of Gaza. The BBC ought to take the advice of Douglas Alexander, reconsider its decision and do the decent thing.
ITN NEWS
