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Does anyone have a working email address for Richard Sambrook? The one at which I formerly reached him is non-working. Many thanks. P Glass ----- Original Message ----- From: "ppg" <ppg@nyc.rr.com> To: <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 8:45 PM Subject: BBC appoints news censor > With deep sadness I send this from the Telegraph today. pg > > > BBC appoints man to monitor 'pro-Arab bias' > By Tom Leonard, Media Editor > (Filed: 11/11/2003) > > The BBC has appointed a "Middle East policeman" to oversee its coverage of > the region amid mounting allegations of anti-Israeli bias. > > Malcolm Balen, a former editor of the Nine O'Clock News, has been recruited > in an attempt to improve the corporation's reporting of the Middle East and > its relationship with the main political players. > > Mr Balen, who left the BBC three years ago, will work full-time with the > official title of "senior editorial adviser". > > It is the first time the corporation has made such an appointment. Insiders > say it is a signal that senior executives feel that the Middle East is an > area over which the BBC needs to take particular care. > Relations between the corporation and the Israeli government hit a low point > this summer when the latter "withdrew co-operation" in protest at a BBC > documentary about the country's weapons of mass destruction. > > Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, later barred the BBC from his > meeting with the British press during a visit to London. > > The BBC has also been the target of Downing Street accusations that it toed > a pro-Baghdad line over the Iraq war and that it influenced the Today > programme's handling of the dossier story that is the subject of the Hutton > Inquiry. > > A BBC spokesman said: "Malcolm is a hugely experienced senior programme > editor whose appointment will help us on our relations with all parties in > the region." > > The decision to appoint Mr Balen was taken jointly by Richard Sambrook, the > director of BBC News, and Mark Byford, the head of the World Service. The > latter's Arabic Service has been singled out by some critics as the most > anti-Israeli source of the corporation's Middle East output. > > The BBC denied that the appointment amounted to an admission that it had > "got its coverage wrong" but conceded the corporation was sensitive to > criticism. He said it was "no longer the case" that the Israelis were > refusing to co-operate with BBC journalists. > > An accusation frequently levelled against the corporation is that it reports > the Arab-Israeli conflict too much from a Palestinian point of view. > > Its reluctance to describe suicide bombers as "terrorists" has proved > particularly controversial, recently prompting the Simon Wiesenthal Centre > to pull out of a BBC series about Nazi genocide. > > The corporation faces increasing scrutiny of all areas of its activities > during the run-up to the renewal of its royal charter in 2006. > _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk