As the Gaza appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee was broadcast on ITV and Channel 4 yesterday, the refusal of the BBC and Sky to do so remained puzzling, writes The Guardian in its editorial.
Excerpts: If Mark Thompson’s core objection was that it would have compromised the impartiality of the organization’s reporting of the conflict, then what of the other appeals DEC has mounted and the BBC has screened with no qualms? Congo, Darfur and Chad, Liberia, Kosovo, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia were all man-made disasters for which DEC launched major appeals.
Even the cyclone appeal for Burma had profoundly political implications, as the military junta blocked access of aid agencies to the Irrawaddy Delta. DEC’s campaign formed an open and unashamed part of a wider international effort to get the junta to open up an area of the country that it was initially determined to keep closed.
And yet the BBC had no qualms about its editorial stance then. Thompson claimed yesterday that his decision on Gaza was not a first and was in line with previous decisions. But the consistency was difficult to spot. What qualifies appeals on Darfur or Burma, but not Gaza?
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