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Few institutions are as embedded in the British psyche as the BBC. With its global reach and reputation for impartiality, it occupies a central place in the UK's information ecosystem. Yet a new report by the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), a Muslim Council of Britain project, challenges that image. Covering BBC output on the Israel-Gaza conflict from October 2023 to October 2024, the CfMM claims the broadcaster has failed its duty of "due impartiality."
Instead, their report 'BBC On Gaza-Israel: One Story, Double Standards' argues, the UK's national broadcaster has diminished Palestinian suffering, amplified Israeli perspectives, and applied double standards to reporting on the war that amounts to institutional bias.
The CfMM analysed some 3,873 online articles and 32,092 broadcast segments, to identify what it called "the marginalisation of Palestinian suffering and the amplification of Israeli narratives." Central to their claim is that despite Palestinian fatalities outnumbering Israeli ones by more than 34 to 1, coverage of Israeli deaths dominated.
For instance, the report found Israeli deaths mentioned 33 times more per fatality in online articles and 19 times more in broadcasts than Palestinian deaths. By October 2024, 42,010 Palestinians and 1,246 Israelis had been killed.
"Does the BBC find Palestinian lives and deaths less newsworthy than Israeli ones?" the CfMM report asks.
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To stress-test these claims, Byline Times conducted its own analysis, on a small scale. We examined the output of BBC Special Correspondent Lucy Manning who had filed at least 27 digital reports focused on 7 October and its aftermath, profiling Israeli victims, survivors, and hostages. We compared this to Fergal Keane, another Special Correspondent, who had focused on civilians in Gaza. Keane had some 31 stories published.
While Keane may have also filed for broadcast, the editorial decision to commission a seeming digital balance between his and Manning's reporting does not - as the CfMM also claims - appear to account for the far greater scale of Palestinian casualties, nor how that disparity should influence the overall balance of coverage.
Some may argue that drawing such comparisons creates a false moral equivalence. After all, most of those murdered on October 7 were civilians, and Israel has not explicitly taken hostages. Furthermore, British journalists are not allowed into Gaza. But the question of proportionality in Gaza reporting remains urgent and unresolved and, it seems, of major concern to those working for the BBC.
One journalist who has worked closely with the BBC over Gaza reiterated the CfMM's findings to Byline Times. They said that they were "shocked at just how explicitly partial the BBC editorial policy department and BBC management are on the issue of Israel - to say they are one-sided is an understatement."
"One BBC member of staff told us that UN sources cannot be trusted," the journalist said. "Palestinian or any sources perceived to be Muslim are treated with suspicion, even when they are Western academics who happen to be Palestinian or Arab by heritage. There is a total lack of journalistic standards and ethics, especially when dealing with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) - Israeli IDF propaganda statements are treated as statements of fact. Scripts are peppered with Israeli "right to replies" without any legal or ethical basis."
The source - who asked to remain anonymous - told By...
For digital and print editions, packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, features, and columns….
SUBSCRIBE
Few institutions are as embedded in the British psyche as the BBC. With its global reach and reputation for impartiality, it occupies a central place in the UK's information ecosystem. Yet a new report by the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), a Muslim Council of Britain project, challenges that image. Covering BBC output on the Israel-Gaza conflict from October 2023 to October 2024, the CfMM claims the broadcaster has failed its duty of "due impartiality."
Instead, their report 'BBC On Gaza-Israel: One Story, Double Standards' argues, the UK's national broadcaster has diminished Palestinian suffering, amplified Israeli perspectives, and applied double standards to reporting on the war that amounts to institutional bias.
The CfMM analysed some 3,873 online articles and 32,092 broadcast segments, to identify what it called "the marginalisation of Palestinian suffering and the amplification of Israeli narratives." Central to their claim is that despite Palestinian fatalities outnumbering Israeli ones by more than 34 to 1, coverage of Israeli deaths dominated.
For instance, the report found Israeli deaths mentioned 33 times more per fatality in online articles and 19 times more in broadcasts than Palestinian deaths. By October 2024, 42,010 Palestinians and 1,246 Israelis had been killed.
"Does the BBC find Palestinian lives and deaths less newsworthy than Israeli ones?" the CfMM report asks.
BBC Scraps Pledge to Show Gaza Medics Documentary 'As Soon as Possible'
The BBC has shelved plans to broadcast the harrowing 'Gaza: Medics Under Fire' documentary pending an "ongoing review" into its coverage of the conflict
Iain Overton
To stress-test these claims, Byline Times conducted its own analysis, on a small scale. We examined the output of BBC Special Correspondent Lucy Manning who had filed at least 27 digital reports focused on 7 October and its aftermath, profiling Israeli victims, survivors, and hostages. We compared this to Fergal Keane, another Special Correspondent, who had focused on civilians in Gaza. Keane had some 31 stories published.
While Keane may have also filed for broadcast, the editorial decision to commission a seeming digital balance between his and Manning's reporting does not - as the CfMM also claims - appear to account for the far greater scale of Palestinian casualties, nor how that disparity should influence the overall balance of coverage.
Some may argue that drawing such comparisons creates a false moral equivalence. After all, most of those murdered on October 7 were civilians, and Israel has not explicitly taken hostages. Furthermore, British journalists are not allowed into Gaza. But the question of proportionality in Gaza reporting remains urgent and unresolved and, it seems, of major concern to those working for the BBC.
One journalist who has worked closely with the BBC over Gaza reiterated the CfMM's findings to Byline Times. They said that they were "shocked at just how explicitly partial the BBC editorial policy department and BBC management are on the issue of Israel - to say they are one-sided is an understatement."
"One BBC member of staff told us that UN sources cannot be trusted," the journalist said. "Palestinian or any sources perceived to be Muslim are treated with suspicion, even when they are Western academics who happen to be Palestinian or Arab by heritage. There is a total lack of journalistic standards and ethics, especially when dealing with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) - Israeli IDF propaganda statements are treated as statements of fact. Scripts are peppered with Israeli "right to replies" without any legal or ethical basis."
The source - who asked to remain anonymous - told By...
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