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The BBC “pushed Hamas lies” and “minimised Israeli suffering” in its coverage of the Gaza War, a leaked internal “dossier” has claimed. The document was authored by Michael Prescott, who served as the independent advisor to the corporation’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee until June. In his report, Prescott claimed that BBC Arabic attempted to “paint Israel as the aggressor” and that allegations against the Jewish state were “raced to air” without adequate editorial checks, according to The Telegraph. He also accused BBC Arabic of giving significant space to statements from Hamas and, consequently, of projecting a “considerably different” editorial angle to that of its UK counterpart. Managers were, according to the dossier, warned about this issue but did not take remedial action. And Prescott alleged that “ unjustifiable weight” was given to death toll figures provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, which have previously been shown to be inflated and fail to distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, called on BBC executives to “hang their heads in shame and resign”. Writing for The Telegraph, he said: “Having made such serious and misleading journalistic errors, BBC executives chose to hide them from the public rather than correct the record. “Protecting the BBC’s reputation came before the duties and principles enshrined in the BBC’s Charter obligations. "That the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fuelled anti-Semitism at home cannot now be in doubt.” The JC has contacted the BBC for comment.
