Good evening and welcome to the final Media Watch of 2024.
This week we look at a report suggesting Britain’s involvement in Israel’s invasion of Gaza is much more intense than the media would have us believe, while the BBC and Sky come under fire for their reporting.
Britain’s involvement in Gaza ‘much deeper’ than media let on
A report by the British Palestine Committee (BCP) has suggested Britain’s involvement in the assault on Gaza by Israel is “much deeper than has been acknowledged in most press coverage”.
Speaking at a press conference, researcher Khem Rogaly said that Britain’s role in licensing arms sales to Israel was the primary area of focus for the media examining the UK’s involvement in the war.
But he said that the Royal Air Force has played an integral role in facilitating Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has killed 44,875 Palestinians as of the end of last week, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Referencing Keir Starmer’s address to troops at RAF Akrotiri, a British military base in Cyprus, Rogaly said: “Over the extraordinarily busy year that Starmer spoke of, one of Akrotiri’s primary functions has been to serve as a logistical supply point for US military cargo, weapons, going to Israel.
“Another primary function of the base has been to launch British surveillance flights over Gaza, which have been happening almost every day for the last 14 months.”
The report, which will be published after it completes final legal checks, could be damning for the British media and the UK Government as it outlines how “Britain’s military collaboration with Israel goes far beyond licensing arms exports, which is the common story that you hear in the press”, Rogaly said.
Sky breaches broadcasting code
It emerged last week Sky News had breached the broadcasting code in its interview with Douglas Ross in June.
Ofcom said in a report that Ross’s appearance on Sky News on June 10 had breached section 6.11 of the code, which relates to candidates promoting their own local campaigns.
Ross had been appearing on the channel to discuss his resignation as Scottish Tory leader, which had been forced by his own party members during the General Election campaign amid controversy over his decision to stand.
Ross’s comments were ruled to be in breach of section 6.11 of the broadcasting code because they veered away from general, national politics and focused on the local – without the other candidates in the same constituency being given a chance to speak.
It was noted that Sky News’s hosts had asked about general politics, but Ross had replied about the local.
Sky News said it had engaged quickly with Ofcom to mitigate any potential breach and has reviewed its training and guidance.
‘Appalling’ BBC reporting
Elsewhere, the BBC has come under fire from a judge who said a high-profile trial of a woman accused of illegally aborting her baby collapsed because of “appalling and slopping” reporting by the broadcaster.
Sophie Harvey, 25, previously stood trial accused of procuring her own miscarriage when she was 19.
Prosecutors alleged she took the medication after learning she was at 28 weeks and five days gestation – meaning she could not get a legal abortion in England as she was beyond the 24-week cut-off.
Harvey and her boyfriend Elliot Benham, 25, always accepted they had purchased abortion pills online, but Harvey insisted she had never taken them and instead gave birth to a stillborn child in the bathroom of her home in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in September 2018.
The couple stood trial at Gloucester Crown Court in May of this year but the jury was discharged by a judge following an application by their lawyers who cited inaccurate reports of the proceedings by the corporation.
During a hearing held in the absence of the jury, the court heard the opening headlines of the BBC Points West edition of Thursday, May 16, had shown archive footage of a property in Cirencester with a tent and scenes of crime officers working and stated: “The remains were found in the garden.”
Later, in the report of that day’s trial proceedings in which Harvey had given evidence, a journalist said in a piece to camera she had taken the pill.
Tom Godfrey, representing Harvey, applied for the jury to be discharged due to the reporting, saying it would go to the issue of his client’s credibility as she maintained she did not take the abortion pill.
Referring to the BBC’s opening remarks, he said: “That is a wholly false statement. It is wholly untrue by someone at the BBC.
“It is a terrible error.”
In rising to consider the application, Judge Ian Lawrie KC, the Recorder of Gloucester, said it was “not appealing” to highlight the errors to the jury in a judicial direction.
“I want to think about it and, whatever I decide, it was appalling and sloppy reporting from the BBC.”
Agreeing with the application to dismiss the jury, the judge said the BBC reporting was “misleading and false”.
Afterwards the BBC apologised in court for the mistakes, which was accepted by the judge.
