Conservative peer accuses BBC chiefs of ‘cover-up’ over anti-Israel bias
Lord Polak said BBC bosses had been 'caught out'
A Conservative peer has accused BBC executives of a “cover-up,” alleging they wrongly assured Jewish community leaders there was “no issue” regarding anti-Israel bias at the broadcaster.
Lord Polak made the claim in the House of Lords during a statement on BBC leadership. He referenced the Prescott report, which he said revealed that the BBC’s flagship programme, Panorama, had faked a video of President Trump, and that Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness were aware of the issue for six months but failed to act.
“The Prescott report also exposed systematic anti-Israel bias, antisemitism at BBC Arabic, and problems with impartiality in the wider coverage of the Israel-Hamas war,” Polak said. “Dr Shah, Mr Davie, and Ms Turness knew this for six months, yet BBC executives publicly and privately insisted there was no systematic problem, telling the Jewish community there was no issue. This cover-up is the whole problem; they have been caught out.”
Polak, who serves as honorary president of the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), spoke after government minister Baroness Twycross acknowledged the BBC’s editorial failings but defended the broadcaster as “a national institution that belongs to us all.”
She added, “Those in the House, from left and right, who are attacking the BBC for not expressing views with which they agree should consider just what is at stake. There is a fundamental difference between raising serious concerns about editorial failings and launching a sustained attack on the institution itself.”
Former BBC director-general Lord Birt also contributed to the debate, stating: “In my experience, everyone at the BBC, from the director-general to front-line journalists, works with honest integrity and is utterly dedicated to public service.
“As with all organisations, mistakes are made—mostly innocent, but some are not. Some result from inexperience, some from local management laxity, and, on occasion, from a wider cultural malaise. The critiques of BBC journalism by Mr Prescott and others across the political spectrum need to be calmly considered and, where necessary, addressed. I have no doubts that under the BBC’s current leadership, they will be.”
The internal report by former BBC advisor Michael Prescott, leaked to The Telegraph, highlighted the editing of a Donald Trump speech by Panorama producers, as well as other concerns about impartiality—including reporting on Gaza and the broadcaster’s handling of antisemitism allegations.
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