By Robert Winnett and Rosa Prince23 October 2009Daily Telegraph
The BBC was under siege last night after the leader of the BNP used his appearance on Question Time to attack Muslims and homosexuals while defending the Ku Klux Klan.
After a very long complaint process (which was initially not upheld) and the subsequent appeal against the refusal of the BBC to correct its Newsround "Guide to Israel and the Palestinian Territories," in July 2009 Arab Media Watch adviser Dr Judith Brown was informed that while considering its response to her complaint, the BBC had decided to review the Newsround website. She thus withdrew her complaint whilst awaiting the outcome of the review.
The BBC now has a new website, and has taken action on most of the points Dr Brown made. The section headings on the website have been extensively changed, some sections have been left out, and new ones added. The Newsround website still does not fully expose the reality of Israeli colonisation and occupation, but the descriptions are now far more accurate and fairer to Palestinians. Below, Dr Brown lists a summary of the BBC reactions to the points she raised with them.
By David Cromwell and David Edwards, editors of Media Lens
14 September 2009
When James Murdoch attacked the BBC in his MacTaggart Lecture last month, saying the state-sponsored broadcaster was a threat to the provision of "independent news", the Guardian's Jonathan Freedland responded:
"The BBC is one of the few British exports to be universally recognised as world class. That's why BBC programmes from The Blue Planet to the Dickens adaptations are snapped up around the globe. They may not be watching Bleak House in Burma or Iran, but they are relying on BBC News for an independent, truthful view of the world."
This is the reflex reaction from friends and employees when the BBC is under fire - that its news is impartial, independent and truthful. But how accurate is the claim?
Daily Telegraph17 July 2009
The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain accepted £45,000 damages from the BBC on Thursday over a claim on Question Time that he condoned the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers.
Keeping a critical eye on the BBC's coverage of Arab issues.
