Gaza Appeals stupid BBC says no

At times it seems that if there is a banana skin to slip on the BBC will find it. Like some old time slap stick comic the BBC seems to lurch from one custard pie in the face to the next, leaving it looking more ridiculous with every bizarre decision that it's editors and producers make. The most recent bizarre decision by the BBC editors is to refuse to broadcast an appeal aimed at alleviating some of the suffering of people in Gaza following the recent Israeli military action. This refusal has stirred up yet more controversy about the way the BBC conducts it's business.

The appeal is being organised by the Disasters Emergency Committee, a well respected body that co-ordinates appeals on behalf of charities. The BBC claims that it would not be appropriate for it to broadcast the appeal because it would risk being seen as compromising it's impartiality.

What is so bizarre is that the BBC has frequently been accused of being somewhat anti-Israeli in the tone of it's standard news output. At times it has appeared rather less inclined to investigate the commitment of groups like Hamas to violence than it has to showing Israeli aggression.

But that is a separate issue on which there are opinions on both sides. The appeal for Gaza is a simple straightforward humanitarian appeal. Even the majority of those who think that Israel was justified in responding to Hamas rocket attacks would accept that there is great humanitarian need in Gaza. Few would object to the broadcasting of an appeal. Broadcasting such an appeal clearly risks nothing in terms of BBC impartiality.

It is simply one more bizarre decision by a corporation that appears to have senior managers who look increasingly incapable of taking reasonable common sense decisions.