Perfectly Impartial in Every Way
January 25, 2009
ITV, Channel 4 and Five are to show a charity appeal for Gaza amid a row over the BBC’s decision not to run the film…
The Disasters Emergency Committee – an umbrella organisation for several major aid charities – wants to raise funds for people in need of food, shelter and medicines as a result of Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip.
Previous DEC appeals shown on multiple TV and radio channels have raised millions of pounds for victims of wars and natural disasters.
But BBC director general Mark Thompson said: “After consultation with senior news editors, we concluded that to broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully couched, ran the risk of calling into question the public’s confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole.”
- BBC News
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has cancelled interviews with the BBC over its decision not to broadcast a charity appeal for Gaza.
Mohamed ElBaradei believed that the BBC’s decision broke “the rules of basic human decency”, his spokeswoman said.
