BBC head vows 'deep systematic' review of its Middle East coverage after complaints of anti-Israel bias

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BBC’s chairman Samir Shah recently called for a “deep systematic” review of its Gaza War coverage following complaints that were raised over anti-Israel bias and inaccuracies in reporting.

“The Middle East conflict is one area we should consider very seriously to be subject to a deep, systematic analysis of how we cover it,” Shah stated while addressing the House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee. “It’s a very difficult story.”

“Broadly, I think we are doing a very good job and the research that we have into the overall public response is good. But that doesn’t mean we are perfect.”

Shah admitted there were complaints against BBC’s coverage of Israel and the Middle East.

“I chair the editorial guidelines and standards committee and that is part of the process where complaints are discussed, talked about and addressed,” he said.

Shah also said he supports a “thematic review” of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.

BBC Dir.-Gen. Tim Davie, who attended the committee session, asserted that BBC acts in “good faith” and will seriously “look at that piece of research, take it seriously, in good faith. Every accusation we’ve had on the Arabic service we have looked at. Now, the issue is not everyone agrees with the outcome. We’ve taken disciplinary action.”

“But we also stand up for our journalists. We’ll stand up for people doing a good job,” Davie stated.

The BBC is officially committed to presenting impartial and factually accurate news. However, the Daily Telegraph recently reported that the BBC network had violated its own guidelines by displaying anti-Israel bias over 1,500 times since Oct. 7.

National Jewish Assembly Vice Chairman Laurence Julius, who has covered BBC for many years, blasted the news coverage of BBC Arabic and BBC News.

“They always portray the Palestinians as the victims, and never mention the thousands of rockets,” Julius stated, referring to rocket attacks against Israel by Iranian terror proxies, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“[The BBC] never talks about the Hamas military casualties but always portrays Israel as militaristic and rarely reports on Israeli civilian casualties,” Julius added.

The report noted that senior BBC journalists, such as Jeremy Bowen and Lyce Doucet, tended to downplay the Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians while systematically mispresenting Israel.

For example, the term “genocide” was reportedly used 14 times more often in connection to Israel than with the Hamas terrorist organization.

Recognizing the BBC’s global influence, Shah stressed the BBC’s duty to review its coverage of the Middle East conflict.

“I think it’s the duty of the board, because the BBC plays such a big role in reporting on the Middle East conflict to the rest of the world, that we do take time out and do an analysis, a review, of that coverage,” Shah stated.

Last October, the BBC and several other international news outlets widely reported that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza with civilians present. However, the Israeli military presented evidence that the explosion outside the hospital was caused by a rocket misfire from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terror group allied with Hamas in Gaza.