The BBC has failed, UK government should full enquiry

 A leaked BBC dossier acknowledges serious editorial failures in BBC Arabic coverage, confirming and overlapping with years of research by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting & Analysis (CAMERA).

The 19-page internal memo by Michael Prescott, a former adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, accuses BBC Arabic of systemic anti-Israel bias, platforming extremist voices, and amplifying Hamas propaganda. The memo was reported by The Telegraph yesterday.

Prescott’s findings mirror and expand upon documentation first publicly exposed by CAMERA UK and CAMERA Arabic researchers throughout the two years that followed October 7, 2023. See full report at https://www.camera.org/article/press-release-cameras-complaints-of-bbc-bias-vindicated-by-bombshell-dossier/

These new revelations follow calls by Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch MP for wholesale reform of BBC Arabic after the publication of CAMERA’s widely-read March 2025 report examining the network’s promotion of extremist voices, whitewashing of violence against Israelis, and failure to enforce editorial standards over the past 5 years.

We are satisfied that people close to the BBC seem to be paying attention to our criticism and hope this will lead to real change in the corporation’s coverage of Israel and the Middle East after decades of failures, but it would be unwise to get our hopes up just yet.”

The mounting body of evidence against BBC Arabic is something we have been warning the BBC about for years, but management repeatedly chose to ignore it. They have failed to act against journalists who publicly celebrated the October 7 attacks and even assigned some of these individuals to cover Israel and Gaza.

CAMERA calls on the BBC Board to launch a full and transparent inquiry and to ensure that the BBC’s international services finally meet the impartiality standards required of a publicly funded broadcaster. We also call on the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which co-funds BBC Arabic, to do likewise.