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The BBC will defy the pleas of charities, ministers and 11,000 members of the public today to become the only terrestrial broadcaster not to transmit an appeal to raise aid for Gaza.
The corporation came under intense pressure at the weekend over its decision not to transmit an appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) because it believed that it would compromise the impartiality of its coverage of the Middle East conflict. More than 50 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling on the BBC to rethink its position, after Mark Thompson, the Director-General, rejected a plea from Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, to broadcast the appeal.
The BBC has also received more than 11,000 complaints about its stance, and thousands protested over the weekend outside its London headquarters. Last night 100 protesters occupied its Scottish headquarters in Glasgow, and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York also criticised the corporation.
Last night the DEC, which is made up of the 13 biggest aid agencies in Britain, claimed that it had told the BBC that aid from the appeal would be made available to Israeli victims of Hamas rocket attacks, alleviating fears of compromising the corporation’s impartiality.
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But correspondence seen by The Times shows that the DEC accepted two weeks ago that assessment of the needs of victims meant that little aid would go to Israel.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Brendan Gormley, DEC’s chief executive, wrote to the BBC on January 13, admitting: “This state of affairs would conflict with the BBC’s editorial need to be impartial.”
