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Tim Davie urged MPs to put themselves in the shoes of a Palestinian child last night in a rare address to the Conservative Party’s influential 1922 Committee.
Under questioning about the BBC‘s refusal to label Hamas as “terrorists,” the Director General is understood to have said that lawmakers should consider what a Palestinian child would think to see the BBC taking a UK government line and therefore looking like an arm of the British state, according to Politico.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are impartial… it’s not about being neutral, it’s about being able to report in the UK, in Gaza, in the Middle East, whereas if the BBC is seen to be an arm of the UK government, that makes our journalism very difficult and it impacts the way it’s perceived and trusted.”
Davie’s rare address to 1922, the Conservative grouping that oversees administration of the party and sets timetables for leader elections, was set in July but focused heavily on the BBC’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza crisis, which kicked off on October 7 following the Hamas massacre of 1,400 civillians and the kidnapping of 200 Israelis.
The BBC has been under fire for its decision around the labeling of Hamas but has held firm, rejecting a call from Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer to review its guidelines. It has, however, changed tact from calling Hamas “militants” to characterizing the Palestinian group as “a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK government.”
Talk of Israel-Gaza dominated the 1922 meeting. One MP told BBC News that Conservative politicians are “united in disagreement with the DG about Hamas being a terrorist organisation and the ability to say so,” while another described a “forthright exchange of views” during the session.
A BBC spokesman said Davie stressed “why the institution matters” to MPs.
Also under discussion was the BBC’s coverage of the small boats crisis, an issue for which the BBC has in fact launched an assessment of its output and editorial guidelines.
Eyebrows were raised last week when it emerged that Davie would be addressing the Committee, especially given that BBC Chair Richard Sharp was recently forced to resign due to his role in a the facilitation of a loan guarantee for former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The BBC has stressed that Davie addresses MPs frequently and will likely do so over the coming months with the opposition Labour Party.
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