The BBC has been accused of impartiality over its coverage of the war in Gaza [Getty]
The BBC has been accused of systemic bias in its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, with a major new report alleging the broadcaster consistently downplayed Palestinian suffering while amplifying Israeli narratives.
The damning 180-page report, released Monday, accuses the BBC of institutional bias for downplaying Palestinian suffering and consistently favouring Israeli narratives.
The research analysed nearly 4,000 articles and over 32,000 broadcast segments spanning from 7 October 2023 to 6 October 2024. The report found an imbalance in how casualties were being reported, despite Palestinian killings outnumbering Israeli deaths by 34 to one.
BBC reports mentioned Israeli deaths more frequently, with 33 times per killing in written reports and 19 times in broadcast packages.Â
The report also found differences in the language used to describe victims. Terms such as “massacre”, “atrocities”, and “butchered” were largely reserved for Israeli victims, with the word “massacre” appearing 18 times more often about Israelis and never used in headlines about Palestinian deaths. Other vocabulary, like “murder” and “butcher”, was only applied to Israeli casualties.
In interviews and guest appearances, Israeli perspectives were more prominent, with more than twice the number of Israeli guests compared to Palestinians.
The report claimed that while interviewees were often pressed to condemn Hamas’s attacks on October 7, similar challenges were not made regarding Israeli military actions, despite large numbers of civilian casualties.
‘BBC prioritised Israeli pain’
CfMM’s head of research, Faiza Mujahid, said the findings raised questions about whether the BBC fulfilled its duty of impartiality under its Royal Charter during a crucial year in the war.
The report also criticises the broadcaster for frequently omitting important historical and political context, with only 0.5 per cent of articles mentioning Israel’s occupation, blockade, or actions before October 7. References to allegations of war crimes and genocide were few and often dismissed or interrupted.
Experts also slam double standards in terminology. Israeli hostages taken by Hamas were widely described as “hostages”, while thousands of Palestinians held under Israel’s administrative detention policy were rarely given similar recognition.
Former Conservative Party co-chair Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said: “This is no cherry-picked critique. It is a comprehensive, evidence-based indictment that cannot be ignored. This powerful research by the Centre for Media Monitoring exposes how, during Israel’s war on Gaza, the BBC consistently prioritised Israeli pain and perspective – at the expense of Palestinian lives and voices.”
Comparisons with the BBC’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war reveal further disparities. Ukrainian victims were portrayed with greater sympathy, and war crimes attributed to Russia more often than those attributed to Israel.
The study includes views from former BBC staff, diplomats, and human rights experts, some describing the findings as a “comprehensive indictment” of the broadcaster’s editorial approach.
The New Arab has approached the BBC for comment.
