{"id":3715,"date":"2009-02-19T17:38:33","date_gmt":"2009-02-19T17:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2009\/02\/19\/bbc-correct-in-not-screening-gaza-appeal-says-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T11:32:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T11:32:57","slug":"bbc-correct-in-not-screening-gaza-appeal-says-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2009\/02\/19\/bbc-correct-in-not-screening-gaza-appeal-says-watchdog\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC correct in not screening Gaza appeal, says watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Director-General Mark Thompson \u2018acted correctly\u2019, says BBC\u2019s internal regulator<\/h3>\n
AN investigation by the BBC Trust has supported the corporation\u2019s decision not to screen a fundraising appeal for Gaza.<\/strong> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The BBC Trust, the channel\u2019s internal regulator, said Director-GeneralMark Thompson’s decision not to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza crisis appeal last month was correct in \u201c<\/strong>preserving the reputation of the BBC for impartiality\u201d.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mt Thompson\u2019s decision not to air the TV appeal following Israel\u2019s military bombardment of Gaza sparked widespread anger. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people, mainly children, died following the 22-day war.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The corporation received 40,000 complaints from the public following the decision while a number of protests took place across the country. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

More than 170 MPs also added their names to parliamentary motions criticising the decision. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The BBC was the only terrestrial broadcaster not to air the five minute appeal.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Their decision was later backed by Sky News who also refused to air the appeal. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Chairman of the Trust, Sir Michael Lyons said they believed Mr Thompson \u201cacted correctly\u201d in making his decision. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“We recognise that the Director-General’s decision was a matter of great controversy for many members of the public. However, having carefully examined the Director-General’s reasons, the Trust believes he acted correctly throughout, and we are satisfied that the decision the Director-General took was reasonable given the importance of preserving the reputation of the BBC for impartiality,\u201d he said. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“Under the terms of the BBC Charter the Director-General is editor-in- chief of the BBC. It is not in the Trust’s remit to second-guess his editorial decisions, nor should it be.\u201d<\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director-General Mark Thompson \u2018acted correctly\u2019, says BBC\u2019s internal regulator AN investigation by the BBC Trust has supported the corporation\u2019s decision not to screen a fundraising appeal for Gaza. The BBC Trust, the channel\u2019s internal regulator, said Director-GeneralMark Thompson’s decision not to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Gaza crisis appeal last month was correct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}