Professor Steven Barnett writes for the British Journalism Review on how UK newspapers exploited a dubious report to attack the BBC

Professor Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster has co-authored a damning critique of a report prominently featured by the UK press that claimed the BBC had breached its guidelines 1,500 times in its coverage of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The report in question was a headline story in the Sunday Telegraph and was widely used to accuse the BBC of bias against Israel. It was commissioned by Trevor Asserson, an English litigation solicitor and founder of Asserson Law Offices, Israel's largest international law firm.

In the BJR article, Professor Barnett and Ivor Gaber, Professor of Political Journalism and member of the BJR's Editorial Board, challenged Asserson's methodology, suggesting that the report lacked academic rigour and was clearly designed to reach a predetermined conclusion.

They argue that, by attempting to categorise news reports into binary options around "sympathy" for one side or the other, the Asserson report was highly subjective and failed to account for the emotional responses triggered by the events of the war and that BBC coverage reflected the realities of the conflict rather than bias. They contrasted Asserson's report with a broader, more comprehensive analysis of media coverage published earlier in the year by the Centre for Media Monitoring, a project established by the Muslim Council of Britain Charitable Foundation.

Barnett and Gaber end by drawing attention to the "uncritical trumpeting of a deeply flawed study" and the danger to trust in journalism when newspapers follow their publishers' commercial or ideological agendas rather than abiding by traditional journalistic norms.

Professor Barnett's critique holds journalism to account, ensuring it remains objective and factual, directly contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

Find out more about Media and Communication courses at the University of Westminster.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn