MEDIA-ISRAEL: Gov’t in Conflict with BBC

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ferry Biedermann

JERUSALEM, Jul 28 2003 (IPS) - Israeli government circles are gloating rather openly over the trouble that the BBC is facing at home over its coverage of the Iraq war.

The Israeli government imposed limited sanctions on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) earlier this month over what it considers biased coverage.

"I can’t say that I am surprised about their trouble in Britain," says Daniel Seaman, director of the Government Press Office (GPO) in Jerusalem. "If they cannot operate at a responsible and professional level in one place, then it is to be expected that they have the same problems elsewhere."

The GPO is the main government agency that deals with journalists in Israel, providing press cards, distributing official press releases, and facilitating entry and work in the country. Seaman was among the officials who pushed hardest for taking steps against the BBC. He has since defended his decision heatedly.

"I am not talking about criticism of Israel," he says. "We do not take steps against media that criticise us, everybody can operate freely here. But with them (the BBC) things were very different. The way they portray Israel, it brings to mind the darkest excesses in the history of anti-Semitism."

The BBC has been repeating old allegations that have been shown to be without any base, Seaman said. One example, he said, is a recurring Palestinian claim that the Israelis use ‘black gas’ in Gaza, amounting to chemical warfare.

"The BBC keeps mentioning this without saying that it has been proved groundless," Seaman told IPS. "They do the same with the so-called Jenin massacre. Even after the UN concluded that there is no proof of any massacre, they still kept calling it that."

The BBC, he says, seems to be out to "demonise" the Jewish state, and seems to have a "programme of its own." The straw that broke the camel’s back, he says, was a report on the country’s nuclear weapons programme that sought to present Israel as a rogue state.

Andrew Steele, BBC bureau chief in Jerusalem, rejects all suggestions of bias in his coverage of the country and the conflict. "We operate the same here as anywhere else," he says. "We don’t have an agenda of our own except to provide the best coverage we can."

He denied that the BBC is repeating old claims that have proved groundless. "We report what is being said and what is happening, we don’t do anything different from anybody else in that respect."

Steele refused to draw any comparison between criticism of the BBC’s coverage of Iraq and its troubles with the Israeli government. "I don’t think there is any link," he said. "I am only responsible for coverage here and I am satisfied we do that to the same professional standards as anywhere else."

The BBC would like to resolve the situation with the Israeli government, said Steele, but he is not too worried about the effects it may have on BBC coverage.

"We are not able to get any government spokesmen on air any more, and we are experiencing some delays with getting press cards for visiting reporters, but other than that we don’t experience difficulties," he said. "It certainly does not mean that all of a sudden we cannot provide coverage any more from Israel, we still do."

Seaman makes clear that he does not intend to make it impossible for the BBC to operate in Israel. "We are a free and democratic country," he said. "They can work here, even attend press conferences but we have suspended our special, friendly cooperation that we extend to journalists."

The Foreign Press Association views the steps against the BBC with concern. Taking measures against media organisations over the content of their coverage "is a slippery slope that can lead to illegitimate attempts to exert political pressure, by limiting access and staff, on organisations or journalists whose reporting is deemed unfavourable to a government’s policy," according to an FPA statement. "This runs counter to the precepts of freedom of the press in a democratic country."

The situation has become more difficult for the press since the outbreak of the Intifadah in September 2000. The GPO has tightened rules considerably, especially after Seaman took over as director two years ago.

Under Seaman there have been drawn out conflicts over use of Palestinian reporters and the work of foreign camera crews in Israel. After several months of Intifadah, the GPO stopped issuing press cards to Palestinians working with foreign news services, "for security reasons."

This made it harder for them to move in the occupied territories, and left many foreign correspondents without translators and without camera crews. Israelis were for a long time not allowed into the territories either, again for security reasons. When foreign networks brought in crews from abroad, the ministry of Labour objected.

There have also been a rising number of complaints of harassment by foreign journalists leaving or entering the country. In some cases laptop computers and even palm organisers were temporarily impounded, also for "security reasons".

Seaman says his office is doing everything it can to deal with these issues. "No other country does as much to accommodate foreign journalists as we do," he said.