MPACUK have been countering the pro-Israeli lobby for many years now and we have continued to demand others do the same within the political and media arenas. For far too long the active pro-Israeli lobby has ensured the media have been reporting events from the Middle East unfairly, with little objectivity and impartiality when it comes to the conflict. So when the BBC commissioned a review to look at their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, MPACUK took the initiative to not only submit evidence to the BBC, but to also run a national campaign urging ALL Muslims, groups, Mosques, etc contribute too. We rang and emailed many groups and Mosques informing them about this media Jihad and in return the majority promised us they will fight in defense of Palestine. However, it has been uncovered now, according to the Governors report that only 2 British Muslim groups contributed – MPACUK and the MCB (who were already invited by the BBC). This leaves us quite concerned and slightly baffled…does this mean to say that all the groups and Mosques that promised to act in defense of the Palestinians simply did not do so?! MPACUK hold to account all those groups/Mosques that blatantly failed to rise in the media Jihad in defense of the Palestinians and the Ummah. For those who refuse to help whilst others are oppressed and humiliated should hang their heads in shame.
 
However, the results found in the review prove very worthwhile and promising. The report has admitted flaws and ‘misleading’ news reporting by the BBC, including failing to adequately report the hardships and sufferings of the Palestinians living under occupation. This campaign has proven to be yet another MPACUK SUCCESS via lobbying the media...
 
So there is no excuse - WE URGENTLY need to lobby the BBC to make sure the report leads to real improvements (we can be sure the Zionists will put in the effort to try to stop this!). Please write to the BBC to express the following points (in your own words):

• Congratulate the BBC on commissioning the independent review of BBC coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian coverage - it has proved to be thorough and objective, with excellent analysis and positive recommendations.
• What steps will the BBC take to ensure that future coverage clearly conveys the inequality between the two sides, the facts of Occupation and the reality of Palestinian suffering?

Email: m.thompson@bbc.co.uk (BBC Director General)

Write to Helen Boaden, director of BBC News
Email: helen.boaden@bbc.co.uk

Write to Roger Mosey, head of BBC TV news
Email: roger.mosey@bbc.co.ukroger.mosey@bbc.co.ukroger.mosey@bbc.co.uk 

The BBC feedback form: 

The Guardian report :
 
The BBC's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "incomplete" and "misleading", including failing to adequately report the hardships of Palestinians living under occupation, an independent review commissioned by the corporation's board of governors has found.
 
The report urges the BBC to be bolder in setting a policy for using the word "terrorism" to describe acts of violence perpetrated against either side and suggests a senior editorial figure should be appointed to "give more secure planning, grip and oversight".
 
The latest of several reports into contentious areas of the BBC's news provision, it praised the quality of much of its coverage and found "little to suggest deliberate or systematic bias" but listed a series of "identifiable shortcomings".
 
Chaired by the British Board of Film Classification president, Sir Quentin Thomas, the review said output failed to consistently "constitute a full and fair account of the conflict but rather, in important respects, presents an incomplete and in that sense misleading picture".
The panel, which also included former ITN chief executive Professor Stewart Purvis, said the BBC should not let its own requirements of balance and impartiality become a "straitjacket" that prevented it from properly relaying the "dual narrative" of both sides.
 
In particular, it highlighted a "failure to convey adequately the disparity in the Israeli and Palestinian experience, reflecting the fact that one side is in control and the other lives under occupation".
 
On the emotive issue of whether acts of violence perpetrated against either side should be called "terrorism", the review said the BBC should use the term because it is "clear and well understood" and that once it had decided on a policy for the correct use of language it should be more consistent in applying it.
 
Like other major media organisations, the BBC regularly deals with a flood of complaints from both sides.
 
An internal BBC News review, led by senior editorial adviser Malcolm Balen, led to greater resources being allocated to the Middle East and the appointment of a specific editor, veteran foreign correspondent Jeremy Bowen. But the review said more should be done to provide a stronger editorial "guiding hand".
 
The BBC should do more to put the conflict in context for viewers, it said. This could include doing more to direct viewers to resources offering more depth and background. Too often, it suggested, news stories were chosen on the basis of the pictures available to accompany them. 
 
 Read the full Guardian report here:

---