UK: BBC could be perceived as 'institutionally antisemitic' says leading academic

Thanks to Joff Taylor

The Jewish Chronicle reports:

The BBC could be perceived as “institutionally antisemitic”, according to a leading academic expert on Jew-hatred.

Lesley Klaff, senior law lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, accused the BBC of “recycling antisemitic tropes”.  She said that the disproportionate attention afforded to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the BBC suggested it could be seen as institutionally antisemitic.

Ms Klaff made the comment at Finchley United Synagogue, north London, on Tuesday, at an event co-organised by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), Campaign for Truth and monitoring group BBC Watch.  The organisers said over 500 people attended.

Citing studies from the Community Security Trust and the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism which showed a correlation between media coverage and antisemitic incidents during the Gaza conflict in the summer of 2014, Ms Klaff concluded: “The BBC plays a significant role in the creation and or maintenance of negative attitudes towards British Jews.”

Fellow panellist Jonathan Turner, chairman of the UK Lawyers for Israel group, asked audience members to raise their hands if they had ever made a complaint to the BBC. Almost everyone in the room had.

Hadar Sela, the British-born managing director of BBC Watch, said the group had made a submission as part of the government review of the Corporation’s charter. It called for increased historical accuracy in the corporation’s reporting, better management of historical online content and a dedicated complaints page on BBC News website.  

Read more.

More about the subject: BBC – Guilty as charged by David Collier