THE BBCWATCH REPORTS
1. First bbcwatch Report: The BBC and the Middle East - A Critical Study (March 2002)
A thorough analysis of BBC coverage of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, and assessment of the BBC’s adherence to its own Guidelines, in particular with respect to its obligations of impartiality and accuracy. The many breaches of the Guidelines highlighted in this report appear to indicate a marked and consistent pro- Palestinian bias within the BBC.
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2. Second bbcwatch Report: The BBC and the Middle East: Analysis (December 2002)
An analysis of the BBC’s coverage of the Middle East in its main news programmes on UK television and radio and on the BBC’s main website over a 9-week period from the end of May to the end of July 2002. The content was assessed for compliance with the BBC’s legal obligations of accuracy and impartiality. We noted that some complaints raised in an earlier report published in March 2002 had been addressed, but most had not.
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3. Third bbcwatch Report: The BBC & The War On Iraq - An Analysis (June 2003)
Examining the BBC’s coverage of the recent war in Iraq. A comparison of the way in which Coalition troops and Israeli troops are reported when dealing with similar military problems provided a rare opportunity to compare like with like in a more direct way than our earlier studies have allowed. Our findings show a disquieting policy of discrimination in the way that Israel is treated by the BBC.
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4. Fourth bbcwatch Report: The BBC and the Middle East: The Documentary Campaign 2000-2004 (July 2004)
A study of the subject matter of television documentaries on BBC1 and BBC2 over the period 4 November 2000 to 7 June 2004, corresponding approximately with the period of the (second) Intifada, and their negative or positive impressions of one or other party to the conflict. We also consider how much airtime the Israeli/Palestinian conflict enjoys compared with other humanitarian and political issues around the world.
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5. Fifth bbcwatch Report – Pictures of Prejudice
A study of six months of pictures from the “world in pictures” section of the BBC website shows a systematic tendency to select pictures which tend to demonise Israelis as militaristic, faceless and cruel and to romanticize the vision of Palestinians. This report also contains a fascinating interview with the editor of the website who admits that the pictures are selected without any editorial analysis or control to prevent bias.
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6. Sixth bbcwatch Report – The BBC Goes Native: A Study of BBC Arabic
This report analyses four weeks of reporting during the 2nd Lebanon War in 2006 as broadcast by BBC Arabic. The report classifies the programme guests in terms of their political leanings. It finds that BBC Arabic has a marked tendency to give air time to representatives of terrorist organizations (Hizbollah) and rogue states (Iran) over the air time given to representatives of Israel (17 to 5). The BBC also gives air time to people with marked anti American and anti Western opinions.
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(139k) as a pdf.
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