A BBC chief has responded to a landmark report which exposed the broadcaster’s double standards in reporting on Gaza.
The corporation’s director of news content was confronted about the findings of a report by the Centre of Media Monitoring which showed vast discrepancies in how the BBC reported on Israel versus how it reported on Palestine.
BBC chief Richard Burgess appeared at the launch of the report in Parliament this week, where he was forced to defend the corporation’s record.
Asked why the corporation had not focused more attention on British spy planes flying over Gaza, Burgess said: “I don’t think we should overplay the UK’s contribution to what’s happening in Israel”.
The BBC news website has reported on Royal Air Force planes being deployed over the Palestinian territory just four times, reports Declassified, the news site which questioned Burgess.
Speaking at the launch event, Burgess said: “I think it’s important that we investigate stories like that, congratulations for the work that you’ve done on it.
“So we have reported it as you say – clearly you feel not enough … There are many angles to cover, I don’t think we should overplay the UK’s contribution to what’s happening in Israel, it’s by far and away it’s the US that are the prime [contributors].”
Pressed on why the BBC had not investigated a British spy flight over Gaza on the day Israel killed UK aid workers, Burgess said: “I agree with you that there are important issues to discuss but my point was that we shouldn’t – we need to see it in the context of the overall arming of Israel.”
Labour MP Andy McDonald, who was watching the exchange, told Burgess: “To underplay the role of the UK is an error.”
Peter Oborne (@OborneTweets) confronts Richard Burgess, the BBC's Executive News Editor, about their coverage of the Gaza genocide and the data revealed by @cfmmuk at the Houses of Parliament. Burgess's response: "I'm not an expert on the Middle East". pic.twitter.com/WpwjrW4T0q
— NewsCord (@newscord_org) June 18, 2025
The Centre for Media Monitoring’s report analysed a total of 3873 articles and 32,092 TV and radio broadcasts between October 7, 2023 to October 7, 2024.
It found that the word massacre(d) was used 18 times more frequently in the context of Israeli deaths than Palestinian deaths in BBC articles.
The word also appeared five times in article headlines – all of which referred to attacks on Israelis.
Emotive terms such as “atrocities”, “slaughter”, “barbaric”, “deadly”, “brutal” were used four times more often when reporting on Israeli victims, while “murder(ed)” was used 220 in the Israeli context and just once for Palestinians.
Also at the launch was journalist Peter Oborne who called out the broadcaster's failures in reporting on the genocide in Gaza.
He said: "You never educated your audience about the genocidal remarks, and according to this report on 100 occasions, 100 occasions, you've closed down the references to genocide by your guests.
"This makes you complicit."
