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BBC apologizes for ignoring antisemitic content and errors in its Arabic service
by Batya Jerenberg,
World Israel News,
November 6, 2022:
The BBC has apologized for ignoring antisemitic content and factual errors about Israel in its Arab-language department, veteran Jewish newspaper and website The Jewish Chronicle (The JC) reported Thursday, in a statement its critics say is not nearly enough to correct an unethical, longstanding policy in its service in general.
In the statement, a spokesperson for the British government-funded broadcaster said, “We apologise for the unacceptable delay and will ensure formal responses are issued as soon as possible.”
The apology came a year and a half after 26 specific complaints were sent in to the service by Camera, a media watchdog which scrutinizes Arabic language media, during Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls.
A Camera spokesperson said that only seven of its critiques “received a proper, timely response and resolution.” The average wait-time was four months.
“The BBC’s complaint system is unable to meet its own standards when it comes to content in Arabic about Israel and Jews,” the spokesperson said.
The BBC’s rules state that complaints should be addressed within ten working days when possible. Although none of Camera’s complaints were rejected, the service sent no response to 14 of them. It corrected three of their articles in line with the critiques without publicly acknowledging their errors.
One mistake, regarding holy sites in Jerusalem, was acknowledged a full year later, but the error is still in the online version of the article, the JC reported.
Campaign Against Antisemitism dismissed the apology, saying it felt “forced.”
The Arabic station has 36 million listeners, making it a very influential voice in the Arab world. Jewish media in the UK have reported many times over years of monitoring about how the department’s reporters take extremist views instead of giving objective facts, with one regular Islamist commentator, Abdel Bari Atwan, openly happy over terrorist attacks against Israel, with no backlash from their employer.
Last month, The JC launched an online petition demanding a parliamentary inquiry into BBC coverage of Jews and Israel. It came on the heels of a letter the paper sent to politicians and public figures, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, asking that Atwan be taken off the air and that the BBC be forced to correct its bias against Israel….
In the BBC’s response, which took over a month to arrive, it defended its employee, saying that keeping Atwan was “in the public’s interest.”
A Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesperson said that the BBC’s apology felt “forced,” coming as it did “as calls mount for a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism at the BBC.”
CNN fires ‘Team Hitler’ producer over anti-Israel rant
But only after "Honest Reporting' goes public
CNN fires ‘Team Hitler’ producer over anti-Israel rant(Shutterstock)
Idris Muktar Ibrahim declared himself a member of “#TeamHitler” on Twitter
while describing Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters defending their land.”
By JNS
November 20, 2022
CNN cuts ties with “TeamHitler” producer after Honest Reporting exposed him.
The watchdog NGO recently revealed that CNN producer Idris Muktar Ibrahim had declared himself a member of “#TeamHitler” on Twitter while describing Hamas terrorists as “freedpm [sic] fighters… definding [sic] their land.”
“After HonestReporting notified CNN of their producer’s offensive social media history, a spokesperson immediately assured us the matter was being investigated,” stated Honest Reporting.
“A deafening silence followed, however, leaving us wondering whether CNN was serious about dealing with an employee who glorified Adolf Hitler and lavished praise on a terrorist group,” the NGO said.
As a result, the organization called on its followers to contact CNN about the matter. HonestReporting soon received a response from CNN:
“Idris was employed as a freelancer by CNN. We were not aware of these tweets, which were published before we began working with him. We have informed him that we will no longer be working with him in the future.”
HonestReporting executive director Gil Hoffman said: “We at HonestReporting will continue to make sure that those who call for the annihilation of the Jewish people will not report the news about the Jewish state.”
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