Archive for September 25th, 2010

This from our friends over at the excellent Biased BBC (via the Telegraph, dead tree version only, apparently):

The BBC spent more than £270,000 on legal fees to keep a report on its coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict out of the public eye, it disclosed yesterday. The sum was among nearly £400,000 of spending on outside advice about FOI requests.

The 20,000 word internal document was written in 2004 by Malcolm Balen, a senior journalist. Steven Sugar, a solicitor, asked to see it under the FOI [the UK Freedom of Information Act - Ed], and sued when the BBC refused. The case went all the way to the House of Lords. The courts eventually found in favour of the BBC and the report was never published.

In figures released under the FOI, the BBC has now disclosed that it spent £264,711 on barristers’ fees defending the case and £6,156 on other legal advice. [...]On the Balen report a BBC spokesman said “If we are not able to pursue our journalism freely and have honest debate and analysis over how we are covering important issues, then our ability to serve the public effectively will be diminished.”

Mark Thompson, the D.G. complained last month about the burden of spurious FOI requests. He said questions had included the number of lavatories in Television Centre and the policy on biscuits. However, requests have also elicited less trivial facts, such as information about executive pay.”

We’ve also dug up a copy of the smoking gun – a Freedom of Information Act response letter, documenting and detailing the cover-up spend. The relevant item is number 12, ref. CO/7618/2006.

When will the BBC be forced own up to its grossly unfair bias towards the ‘Palestinians’ and admit its institutionalised hatred of Israel?

You can download it here.