New report reveals BBC's anti-Israel bias during Gaza war
The research, led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, also found that the British media body violated its own editing guidelines 1,500 times during the Gaza war
The BBC has violated its editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times during the war against Hamas, according to a report published Sunday in the British Telegraph. The report exposed a "deeply worrying pattern of bias" against Israel, according to its authors, who analyzed four months of the channel's output on television, radio, online news, podcasts, and social media.
The research, led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, also found that Israel was accused by the BBC of more than 14 murders by Hamas in conflict coverage. On Saturday, Danny Cohen, a former senior figure at the BBC, warned that there is now an "institutional crisis" at the national broadcaster, and called for an independent investigation of the war coverage between Israel and Hamas.
The Asserson report analyzed the BBC's coverage over a four-month period that began on October 7, 2023. A team of about 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists contributed to the research, which used artificial intelligence to analyze nine million words of output from the BBC.
The researchers identified a total of 1,553 violations of the BBC's editorial guidelines, including lack of impartiality, accuracy, editorial values and public interest.
"The findings reveal a deeply worrying pattern of bias and multiple breaches by the BBC of its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, fairness and establishing the truth," the report states.