EXCLUSIVE: The BBC made changes to content and editorial oversight at its BBC Arabic network as internal debate raged about anti-Israel bias.
Deadline understands that BBC News chiefs overhauled BBC Arabic’s online Press Review item — which collates media reporting from the Middle East — and bolstered editorial leadership and accountability at the service.
The changes were made as BBC Arabic came under scrutiny from the BBC board’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee (EGSC). The EGSC is comprised of five members, including BBC director general Tim Davie and chair Samir Shah, but also takes soundings from external advisers.
One of these advisers, David Grossman, produced a report in January that reviewed BBC Arabic output and identified “issues,” per EGSC minutes seen by Deadline. In March, Jonathan Munro, BBC News’ global director, was called before the committee to respond to Grossman’s findings.
Watch on Deadline
The EGSC minutes said: “The committee discussed the response from [Munro] to [Grossman’s] report on BBC Arabic, which had identified issues with the Press Review; the quality of editorial oversight and the overall leadership of the area.
They continued: “The committee noted that important structural and management changes had recently been made to the oversight of World Service operations, including BBC Arabic. In response to the report a number of additional actions had been implemented.
“These include an overhaul of the Press Review, a senior appointment to champion and safeguard quality, and the announcement of a complete reworking of accountability across BBC’s worldwide operations.”
Some of these changes were in motion before Grossman’s findings, including hiring George Achi from Canada’s CBC News to become the “champion” of editorial quality and standards across global output.
The BBC has not published Grossman’s review, but details of his findings were disclosed for the first time by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.
The Telegraph obtained a dossier written by Michael Prescott, another independent adviser to the BBC’s EGSC, who left in June. Prescott said Grossman’s findings were part of a picture of “systemic problems within BBC Arabic” that amounted to anti-Israel bias.
Prescott alleged that Munro, the BBC News executive, responded to Grossman’s review by defending BBC Arabic’s “exceptional journalism,” which he said was “almost as trusted as Al Jazeera.” Prescott said the review “should have prompted urgent action by the executive but it did not.”
BBC insiders dispute this, pointing to “extensive” changes on BBC Arabic, including those captured in the EGSC minutes. One source said that just because Prescott did not approve of the changes, it does not mean that Grossman’s findings were dismissed.
According to the Telegraph, Grossman examined BBC Arabic’s treatment of Gaza stories in comparison to the UK broadcaster’s English-language website over a five-month period to October 2024.
He concluded that the BBC website had 19 separate stories about the Israeli hostages, while BBC Arabic had none. Grossman found that stories that were critical of Hamas did not appear on BBC Arabic, but every story that attacked Israel was replicated by BBC Arabic, per the Telegraph.
One specific example cited by Grossman showed how BBC Arabic gave greater prominence to Hamas in a BBC News story about a Yazidi woman who was allegedly rescued by Israeli soldiers after being trafficked to Gaza, where she was held captive by a Palestinian member of Hamas.
BBC Arabic carried a 582-word Hamas statement in its version of the story and included the militant group’s rebuttal in a headline that read: “Israel says ‘Yazidi prisoner returned to Iraq after 10 years in Gaza,’ Hamas tells BBC ‘Israel narrative is fabricated.”
Danny Cohen, the BBC’s former content chief and a critic of the corporation’s reporting on Israel, called on the BBC to publish Grossman’s report. He told Deadline that BBC viewers had a right to “see what was concerning Mr Prescott such a great deal and why he clearly felt so dismayed that the executive wasn’t taking it seriously.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully. With regard to BBC News Arabic, where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred, we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action.”
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of UK Parliament’s influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: “The BBC clearly has serious questions to answer regarding both its editorial standards and the way in which concerns are handled by senior management.
“The corporation must set the benchmark for accurate and fair reporting, especially in a media landscape where it is all too easy to find news presented in a less than impartial way. The committee needs to be reassured that those at the very top of the BBC are treating these issues with the seriousness they deserve and taking decisive steps to uphold the corporation’s reputation for integrity and public trust.”