Two BBC journalists publish controversial posts on social media
BBC says its own coverage goes through an editorial process
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
Two senior BBC journalists have published controversial posts on social media relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
One, Sareen Kaur Bains, a senior journalist on BBC Radio Four’s flagship Today programme, reposted a comment on Twitter/X in which someone insisted that Israel was “lying” about the airstrike which hit a hospital in Gaza.
Bains also challenged a Jewish poster, asking him: “I just wondered whether you have any thoughts on how many of the 2m inhabitants that you allude to are ‘non-combatants’ — as you put it — that should be offered passage from the ‘confined strip…to safety, whether in Egypt or the West Bank’? Genuine question”. The poster did not engage with her.
The other BBC journalist is Rami Ruhayem, based in Beirut, who has tweeted about “complicity” by mainstream media when reporting the Israel-Hamas conflict. He writes of “emotional shock therapy; a barrage of emotive terms – massacre, slaughter – riding on the back of the most horrendous claims, repeated and drummed in around the clock.”
Then he observes: “Apparently, evidence is not necessary, while such terms recede when it comes to describing the verified slaughter of innocents in Gaza by Israel. Does this not make it easier for officials in the West not only to support Israel, but to incite Israeli leaders to ‘level’ Gaza?”
According to The Times, Ruhayem complained that the BBC valued Israeli lives more highly than Palestinians. In an email to BBC Director-General Tim Davie, also circulated to BBC bureaux around the world, Ruhayem said that BBC journalists were frequently going easy on Israeli officials in interviews and allowing them “comfortable airtime” to justify their actions.
The BBC, which said it would not comment on internal emails, said it took allegations of breaches of its editorial and social media guidelines “with the utmost seriousness”. If and when the Corporation finds breaches, its spokesman said, “we will act, including taking disciplinary action.”
The spokesman added: “While we have strict social media rules, which we will uphold, we would ask that you judge our coverage on its own merits (and against the BBC’s editorial guidelines) – and reflect that our coverage goes through an editorial process involving editors”.
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