Britain and the world’s views of the rights and wrongs of the Gaza war are so often shaped by what the BBC reports. That’s mattered more than ever in recent weeks, amid the feverishly heated coverage of Israel’s new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) scheme to deliver aid to the Palestinian people and bypass allegedly Hamas-controlled NGOs.
Hamas-linked sources claim Israeli soldiers have repeatedly shot and killed Palestinian civilians waiting for GHF food with their families. Stories bearing the bylines of BBC “journalists” in Gaza largely tell this version of events, albeit including the denials of the IDF.
News organisations using Gazan reporters say they have no choice, given the IDF’s refusal to allow in outside journalists.
But that’s no reason not to exercise care and employ the same editorial standards as they would on any other story.
For critics of the BBC, the results have been a disaster for the Corporation and its standards.
They point to the stories that have not been told, or have been largely overlooked, by these reporters almost throughout the war: of Hamas’s tyranny over the people of Gaza, its torture and murder of opponents, and of the courageous Palestinians who defy its rule.
And why is there such scant coverage of Hamas using the civilian population as a human shield by placing tunnels under civilian buildings and military bases in hospital?
Where are the stories of Israeli hostages being moved across Gaza?
Why is there no footage of Hamas firing rockets or their gunmen on the move?
Britain and the world’s views of the rights and wrongs of the Gaza war are so often shaped by what the BBC reports. That’s mattered more than ever in recent weeks, amid the feverishly heated coverage of Israel’s new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) scheme to deliver aid to the Palestinian people and bypass allegedly Hamas-controlled NGOs.
Hamas-linked sources claim Israeli soldiers have repeatedly shot and killed Palestinian civilians waiting for GHF food with their families. Stories bearing the bylines of BBC “journalists” in Gaza largely tell this version of events, albeit including the denials of the IDF.
News organisations using Gazan reporters say they have no choice, given the IDF’s refusal to allow in outside journalists.
But that’s no reason not to exercise care and employ the same editorial standards as they would on any other story.
For critics of the BBC, the results have been a disaster for the Corporation and its standards.
They point to the stories that have not been told, or have been largely overlooked, by these reporters almost throughout the war: of Hamas’s tyranny over the people of Gaza, its torture and murder of opponents, and of the courageous Palestinians who defy its rule.
And why is there such scant coverage of Hamas using the civilian population as a human shield by placing tunnels under civilian buildings and military bases in hospital?
Where are the stories of Israeli hostages being moved across Gaza?
Why is there no footage of Hamas firing rockets or their gunmen on the move?