The new BBC chairman has indicated the broadcaster’s list of guidelines need to be reviewed following months of criticism over the corporation's allegedly biased coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
The national broadcaster was initially criticised for using the word “militants” instead of "terrorists" to describe Hamas in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Veteran BBC editor Jeremy Bowen also sparked outrage recently after he said he did not regret “one thing” about delivering an inaccurate report about a blast at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza shortly after the war started.
Jon Donnison, another veteran BBC journalist, also wrongly suggested Israel was behind the same blast in October.
In November, BBC staff members were discouraged from attending a march against antisemitism when it was deemed “a controversial march or demonstration” as per impartiality guidelines that also restricted editorial staffers from attending “commemorative or celebratory” events.
Samir Shah, the former head of BBC’s political programmes who is expected to begin his role as chairman next month, said: "What lessons can be learnt? Do the editorial guidelines need reviewing (I believe there is one scheduled) and, if so, in what ways."
The BBC (Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
He also told MPs in a pre-confirmatory hearing that the BBC needed to end the "psychodrama" over Gary Lineker's political social media statements.
Earlier this year, Lineker found himself in hot water when he tweeted that the language used around the UK’s immigration policy was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s.”
The £1.35 million a year BBC star was criticised by various public figures across the political spectrum and Jewish community.
He stepped back from his Match of the Day presenting duties “until an agreement was reached on social media use”.
Just days later, the BBC reversed its position and announced that Lineker would return to air and would initiate an independent review of its social media guidelines.
Dr Shah implied that a revision of the guidelines for freelancers with prominent positions at the BBC such as Lineker are necessitated by the circumstances, though Lineker has maintained that his political posts remain within the guidelines.
The new chairman also warned that the BBC must get "match fit" for an upcoming general election.
He called the BBC’s coverage of the poll “journalism’s World Cup” and said he would make planning the programme a personal priority, according to written evidence released by the Culture Select Committee after MPs questioned Dr Shah at a pre-confirmatory hearing last month.
