by Jane Prinsley, Jewish Chronicle
The Board has given the BBC until Pesach to address community concerns
The Board of Deputies has given the BBC a deadline of Passover to tackle concerns over its reporting on the Israel-Hamas war and the wellbeing of its Jewish staff.
Following a meeting on Thursday afternoon between Board President Phil Rosenberg and BBC Director General Tim Davie, Rosenberg said: “The British Jewish community has long been sounding the alarm regarding BBC misreporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; not just for years, but for decades.
“The refusal by the Corporation to commit to proper change has led to the situation it now finds itself in – one where a significant number of errors in its coverage have been logged during the last 17 months and a situation where the son of a senior Hamas official narrated its recent Gaza documentary.”
That same day, the BBC was forced to apologise after a BBC World Service producer asked the Israeli embassy to provide an anti-Netanyahu speaker for the Newshour programme. The Corporation admitted the request was a “serious mistake” that “clearly falls well below our standards.”
In a statement released after the meeting, the Board said: “The BBC leadership needs to grip the issue with a seriousness and urgency we have not yet seen.
“We told them that the current situation was not good enough and needs to change. We called for the Corporation to commit to a clear series of actions ahead of the Passover Festival – beginning April 12 – at the latest.”
The Board outlined seven areas for the BBC to commit to “clear action,” including a “thematic review into the Corporation’s reporting on Israel-Gaza since October 7 2023.”