The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is facing allegations from its journalists, who claim that the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict lacks accuracy.
The journalists, in a 2,300-word letter sent to Qatar-based media Al-Jazeera, accuse the BBC of emphasizing Israeli victims over Palestinians, neglecting crucial historical context and applying a "double standard in how civilians are seen" when compared to its reporting on alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The eight U.K.-based journalists, fearing reprisal, chose to remain anonymous and don't intend to send the letter to BBC executives, as they doubt it would lead to meaningful discussions.
Instead, they shared it with Al-Jazeera amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where over 14,500 Palestinians, including at least 6,000 children, have reportedly been killed by Israeli bombardment.
The journalists argue that the BBC's failure to accurately convey the conflict, through omission and a lack of critical engagement with Israel's claims, prevents the public from understanding the human rights abuses in Gaza. They question when the escalating death toll will prompt a change in the BBC's editorial stance.
The conflict began after the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion of southern Israel, followed by a monthlong indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The global response includes calls for a cease-fire from rights groups and hundreds of thousands of protesters.
The war's portrayal in newsrooms worldwide has sparked disagreements over language use, empathy toward victims on both sides and how each party is depicted.
The BBC journalists criticized the corporation for using terms like "massacre" and "atrocity" exclusively for Hamas, framing the group as the sole instigator of violence in the region.
They argued that such framing is inaccurate but aligns with the BBC's overall coverage. Despite acknowledging nature of the Hamas incursion, the journalists stressed that it doesn't justify the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians, and they urged the BBC to question the logic it appears to support.