BBC bosses are facing ‘serious questions’ over their handling of an internal report on impartiality as the corporation stands accused of ‘pushing Hamas lies around the world’.
The report, which was sent to BBC director general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah last month, has plunged the corporation into a fresh crisis with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch arguing ‘heads should roll’.
Last night pressure was mounting on Mr Davie to fall on his sword after a former senior BBC executive called for the top boss to go after ‘three scandals too many’.
The memo on impartiality said the BBC chose to ‘minimise Israeli suffering’ in the war in Gaza while ‘painting Israel as the aggressor’ during the conflict.
It said corporation staff ‘raced to air’ to make allegations against Israel without adequate checks and suggested there was ‘a desire always to believe the worst about Israel’.
The report also found that BBC Arabic, which is part of the World Service, gave a platform to journalists who had made extreme anti-Semitic comments.
One man who said Jews should be burned ‘as Hitler did’ appeared as a guest on BBC Arabic 244 times in 18 months. While another, who described Israelis as less than human and Jews as ‘devils’, appeared 522 times in the same period.
The report was written by Michael Prescott, who spent three years as an adviser to the broadcaster’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, who sent the 19-page document to the BBC Board and argued there had been ‘shocking’ breaches of impartiality.
BBC bosses are facing ‘serious questions’ over their handling of an internal report on impartiality as the corporation stands accused of ‘pushing Hamas lies around the world’
Last night pressure was mounting on Davie to fall on his sword after a former senior BBC executive called for the top boss to go after ‘three scandals too many’
The report, which was sent to BBC director general Tim Davie and chairman Samir Shah last month, has plunged the corporation into a fresh crisis with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch arguing ‘heads should roll’
Prescott said: ‘The errors come thick and fast, sometimes with eyewitness testimony from locals who have tweeted in praise of the October 7 killings and worse.
‘The BBC needs to accept it has systemic issues with the coverage. Only then can the process properly begin to fix the problem.’
In his memo, Mr Prescott indicated that BBC Arabic was failing to provide impartial news coverage.
He said its content was ‘considerably different’ to the main BBC website even though it is supposed to reflect the same values.
In a leak of the report, seen by The Daily Telegraph on Monday, Mr Prescott also claimed the BBC ‘doctored’ a speech by the US President to make it appear as if he had encouraged the 2021 Capitol Hill riots during an episode of Panorama.
The memo claimed that senior executives and the BBC’s chairman ignored and dismissed a slew of serious complaints raised by the corporation’s own standards watchdog.
Mr Prescott said he was compelled to speak out because of his ‘despair at [the BBC’s] inaction’ when issues arise.
Downing Street confirmed that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had a copy of the report and had been ‘assured’ by the BBC that they were investigating matters raised.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said it was vital that the BBC upheld the highest standards of reporting and impartiality to maintain trust with viewers.
He added: ‘We take any criticisms of the BBC’s editorial standards very seriously. The culture secretary expects the corporation to report the news accurately and impartially, and she expects them to look into questions about editorial standards thoroughly.’
The Leader of the Opposition also waded into the row yesterday. Mrs Badenoch told GB News: ‘It’s absolutely shocking. That is fake news, actually putting different things together to try to make something look different from what it actually was. And I do think heads should roll.’
Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, is a long-time critic of Tim Davie and called for the BBC boss to step down last night.
Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, is a long-time critic of Tim Davie and called for the BBC boss to step down
Downing Street confirmed that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had a copy of the report and had been ‘assured’ by the BBC that they were investigating matters raised in the report
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I think it’s three scandals too many when it comes to Tim Davie. I think, at last, someone should take responsibility. The BBC needs to show that it takes these problems seriously and will take steps to restore trust.’
‘If it attempts to bury its head in the sand and ignore a report prepared by an independent advisor who had access to what was going on in the BBC, then it’s lost its reputation.’
He also added: ‘That the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fuelled anti-Semitism at home cannot now be in doubt.’
‘So I think we need change at the top, and we need significant reform within the organisation to deal with that.’
The report has left the BBC facing questions over trust, with Ms Nandy and the broadcasting regulator Ofcom facing growing calls to launch an inquiry into alleged BBC bias.
The all-party culture, media and sport select committee will also write to Mr Shah with a series of questions raised by the report.
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the committee, said: ‘The BBC clearly has serious questions to answer regarding both its editorial standards and the way in which concerns are handled by senior management.’
‘The corporation must set the benchmark for accurate and fair reporting, especially in a media landscape where it is all too easy to find news presented in a less than impartial way.’
‘The Committee needs to be reassured that those at the very top of the BBC are treating these issues with the seriousness they deserve and taking decisive steps to uphold the corporation’s reputation for integrity and public trust.’
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.
‘With regard to BBC News Arabic, where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action.
‘We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to avoid a repeat of this.’
