The BBC has pulled several Middle East journalists off air amid allegations that they broadcast support for Hamas in its terror attacks on Israel.
BBC News Arab journalists – including those reporting out of Egypt and Lebanon – appeared to support the Palestinians or criticize the Jewish state in posts they tweeted or liked, the Financial Times reported.
One of the reporters liked a message that appeared to describe Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters,” the outlet reported.
“We are investigating this matter urgently,” said a representative of the BBC, which has already come under fire for refusing to refer to Hamas as terrorists.
“We take allegations of violations of our editorial and social media guidelines very seriously, and if and when we discover violations we will act, including taking disciplinary action.”
The BBC has taken six journalists in the Middle East off air amid allegations that they broadcast support for Hamas on social media.REUTERS
The FT report said six BBC journalists had been thrown off air, although they had not been formally suspended pending an investigation.
However, a separate report in the Wrap put the number at seven, including one senior broadcast reporter and one freelancer.
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The alleged social media activity included liking tweeted videos of dead bodies and kidnapped people being loaded into vehicles with captions reading “proud moment” and another saying Israelis “will live as thieves and usurpers,” the Wrap reported.
The outlet was based on a report by the Committee on Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, or Camera, which identified seven that were reportedly pulled from the air.
They are Mahmoud Sheleib, senior broadcast journalist, freelancer Aya Hossam, reporter Sally Nabil, Cairo-based Salma Khattab, Beirut-based religious affairs reporter, Sanaa Khouri, Beirut-based editor Nada Abdelsamad and Amr Fekry, a sports journalist. and an expert on BBC Arabic, according to the report.
The BBC has already faced scrutiny over its stance on Hamas from politicians demanding changes to its editorial policy that refers to terrorists as militants.
On Monday, Downing Street insisted that the word “terrorist” was appropriate given that the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel was the third deadliest terrorist attack since the 1970s.
“A number of reporting organizations accurately describe Hamas as a terrorist group. I think accuracy is important in all circumstances,” a UK government spokesman said, according to the Financial Times.
Pro-Israel protesters gathered outside BBC headquarters to protest its coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas.REUTERS
The broadcaster has argued that as an editorially independent organisation, its role is to report news so that people can make up their own minds.
It said it had made it clear that Hamas had been banned as a terrorist group by many Western governments and featured contributors referring to them as terrorists.
Noah Abrahams, a 22-year-old Jewish sports commentator who contributes to BBC Radio Derby, has said he will no longer work with the news service because of its refusal to use the term “terrorist” for Hamas.
The BBC disputed media reports that characterized Abrahams’ departure as a resignation.
“It is incorrect to report that Noah has ‘retired’ and we have been in contact with the media who have reported as such,” a BBC spokesperson told The Post, noting that Abrahams is a freelance commentator who “has done occasional work for BBC Derby .”
A BBC representative said the news service “takes[s] our use of language is very serious.”
“Anyone who watches or listens to our coverage will hear the word ‘terrorist’ used many times – we attribute it to those who use it, for example, the UK Government,” the spokesperson told The Post last week.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
