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    BBC 4 0131to0135

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    Bren-R
    This document is a letter from Gerald Kaufman, a member of parliament, to Gavyn Davies, the head of the BBC. Kaufman expresses concern about perceived bias in the BBC's reporting on the Iraq war. He provides specific examples of statements by BBC reporters that he believes showed an anti-war or anti-government stance. Kaufman requests that Davies justify these incidents and address the broader issue of impartiality in the BBC's coverage of the conflict.

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    BBC 4 0131to0135

    Uploaded by

    Bren-R
    51 views5 pages
    This document is a letter from Gerald Kaufman, a member of parliament, to Gavyn Davies, the head of the BBC. Kaufman expresses concern about perceived bias in the BBC's reporting on the Iraq war. He provides specific examples of statements by BBC reporters that he believes showed an anti-war or anti-government stance. Kaufman requests that Davies justify these incidents and address the broader issue of impartiality in the BBC's coverage of the conflict.

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    bbc_4_0131to0135

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    This document is a letter from Gerald Kaufman, a member of parliament, to Gavyn Davies, the head of the BBC. Kaufman expresses concern about perceived bias in the BBC's reporting on the Iraq war. He provides specific examples of statements by BBC reporters that he believes showed an anti-war or anti-government stance. Kaufman requests that Davies justify these incidents and address the broader issue of impartiality in the BBC's coverage of the conflict.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    51 views5 pages

    BBC 4 0131to0135

    Uploaded by

    Bren-R
    This document is a letter from Gerald Kaufman, a member of parliament, to Gavyn Davies, the head of the BBC. Kaufman expresses concern about perceived bias in the BBC's reporting on the Iraq war. He provides specific examples of statements by BBC reporters that he believes showed an anti-war or anti-government stance. Kaufman requests that Davies justify these incidents and address the broader issue of impartiality in the BBC's coverage of the conflict.

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    You are on page 1of 5

    Nu.

    U 2 t ~ Y, 1
    ,. . . .1 1 0 ~ ,~ .,
    r~v

    '.

    10 DOWNING STREET
    LONDON SWilj 2AA

    Dir.=, of Com.^ntswicccion: nnd 5thntegy ? 4 Maroh 2003

    ~. ~~o~J=

    You may have seen David Aaronovitch's colu,-nn in the Gnzsdian yestezday,
    :t
    I hope that was considered seriously-in the BBC, The point he was making was
    underlined sev°ra( tirnes on fnis morni.~b's Today programme
    . First, wh-n it
    con_inued to refer to out of date polls which predate polls showing growing support
    for action; seco-ad in giving far grcs.:er pro:ninence to ihe Commons vote on the
    amcndrnersy than the motion which aathorised military action, which attiactcd a far
    small~ rebellion . Nor could I help noticirtg that the paper revinv was largely
    about Clare Short, when t.he papars werc dortunatad by the vote and the Prime
    lv(inisw~r's speech .

    Put all that to one sicie, I would like you to justify the following five
    incidents.

    l . John i-h.i.n:phrrys to Mike O'Brien


    :"You wynt into the pzocess
    detenmizied to have a war. That was the point I was ma..king and that :s
    the way it has turned out, h.zs.-t't it". We are ail well tfsed to tl:e -
    oontempt Mr ls'.uL-rsph .reys displays to ciected politicians (unlc;-:~t~Iiey are
    "rebels") but T17is was particularly contemptuous . How, givetitl,te
    ex~aordinary efforts f~-ie Govemrnent mad-. to secare a new R°.solution at
    the'CiN, can such a "poin4" be Justiued?

    2. Iohn p:uncph.reys today: "The Car_servative Pz.-:y e`~'`ectit°?y saved their


    (the Goverr~rner,t's) bzcan_ "I rue, or

    3 . Tom Carver at the UN on ti-it day we wiLdrew the draRt SC?..

    <`A Clear majozity in the 5eeurity Cattncil basically said rbat Geor;e
    Bush's idea a.nd concept of pre-empave military action was ju,t as
    dangerous to law and order throu?hout the world as 5addam :~ussein ."

    a~~~~.( a,3, t2q


    W. 01J4 P. 3
    . iy, mnn. tvvs io :'+v

    .2-

    "This is not diplornacy that we're wi'messii:g here but rather an unsccmly
    scramble by individual countries to salva=ge their owM rtputa:ions iza all this
    for the history books. The attes,pt to blame ths Frenoh :s frankly a canard.
    The reason that the British and :,e Amezicans killad oz: their own resolution
    is not bccause of 'he t:,-at of a veto but si,":-4ply because it L±n't have. the
    support in `xe Sccurity Council
    . And the longer I have watched this go on
    the more obvious that has become. R,-=kly thcy would have been b etter off
    if they'd n.ever t±ied !l:is 2t all."

    I'A.merica carat here to t :o sell :ts view of the world. Bat failed to .¢make
    the sale. Its diplomacy was 'heavy-haiided, even ir.ept at times . N"~arty of
    Bush's own team were openly sooz'nfi:1 of the whole diplomatic process .
    They talked all the time about the need for America.-i seoarity after 9/11 but
    very littleaboufthe global context Yet despirw ail of that, we al]-assumed
    the shccr weight of A:r.ericanpowe: would prevail. Butit didn't. rive
    months of bargaz.-~ing and artx-:vristing prod.uced the s`a~eri-~g zesult of
    winniag over $ulgarza" .

    T'ttis is not report;ng, but editor:alising. Could you justify each ofthcse
    three stater,ier~ts .

    4. Andrew Crtilli~D'an said on the Today prog-amr!zw today that ",1rn2ocent


    people will die here in rhe next few hours"_ Could you justify that
    statem.°?qt to rze.

    5. P.aga1, Otr:aar in $aghade.d on'I'uPscaay quoted what ;Ae cailed an


    "czdir.ary Iraqi" as saying "I Know that B-zttislh and Americans say they'll
    spar-, civilian targets this rnan said bat few of us beiieve tnezn. I t'V.inic
    they're just going to bomb every~:ng and most ofti:s 2u-~ oir.g to stay in
    our homes*' .

    As I have said to you before, and zs John Simpson has acknowledged, reporters are
    not ~ee in either :he:r movements or who they spe2.k to . 'What is mc;e, any
    "ordinay" I:aqi w:, o speaks to `ne media k=ows that :: they say anything that
    would ofTend tbe re ,ime, they risk p~rishrnent up to and inc,ud ::~g deat:. This is
    W'.7y it is so irr,portant faat res4ictioZs are ;efe.n'ed to . I reaet t;.at in your previous
    carrespondernee you fail to see this point_ For my part, I feel you are. in regulax
    b:each of your own guid°1"sn^~s .

    Fi:al1y, let me j :st take'one Iesue in ~ore de?ail, hamely the legaliy of milctary
    action without a new SCR, to il3ustrate L~e selecdon towards anti-war, anti-
    ;ove;.~rent stories .

    ~aca~ 10~32 t3Q


    N0. 0214 °. 4
    tvuD iD :41

    -3-

    Coverage on me `legality ofthe war' has been heavily biased toward stories
    az>eriing the ws.r would bc illegal without a second resohltion.

    1 Maroh : 151awyers write to Guardian wan, in7 pre-emptive self-defence would ':)e
    illegal.

    Today projrar;une and WATQ gave widespread coverage to this stoy- interviews
    with lawyers, long-~hy discussions em, It was high up their running-orrlers .

    " Today only intervicwed anti war lawyer


    " WATO interviewed on a.nti and one pro Cout concluded that without z°'1
    resolution the-case for action not as strong)

    13 March: John Hump'1.reys Speakirtg to ,4n~~ Clwyd: "I repeat that the :e axe
    horrible Ieadsrs all over the place and in tais pa-iticular case it appears that tiie
    eovemment's own )es;al advisers are 'r>1l:ng th°m that this wou.ld be an illeza_1 war.
    You suppor't it none the less?" Dased on what, might T ask? His assertion has~
    never been correetcd .

    14 March- calls for government to -publish legal advice

    The tone of tbe rcpor's was that government is cme.°alin; advice b--cause: it
    doesn't back war without a 2°d Resolution . ,

    Thr. Today propratn,nie gave this widespread coverage, interview;,ao anti waz
    Labour 'N2 and Tory MP who asserts tine r"smovr is the AG's advice s at odds
    with Cabinet.

    WATO interviews aati war 12wyer.

    17 March - AG publislaes lagal advice making clea: the above stopic!s %V--re W, on

    Hardly any covorage on ffie BBC.

    Today Lnterviews Lord Goodhart (LD lagal affairs) and Ross Czanstor. (La,bouT M1?
    ar.d QG) (pre publication)

    VvrATO don't cover the sto;y.

    One lir:er on R5 : AG to set out grv=ds L-z Lozds statcnent (1200)


    One i±ner, on Pm: Goldsmith says war legal Wlout 2nd resolution .

    (3 0, C,l L-~ 4 0133 131


    6'C.0274 ?. 7
    , iJ,rnnIV tVVJ 1U .`5V

    1 know you will try tio justify this. You always do . But it :s wrorng.

    You may bc interested to k.now that ~-ie Pri= Aftinister iAas aIso exeressed real
    ooncern about some of the reports he `.as seen aad haard. I feel strangly that if the
    BBC rtoorting contirtues as it s, this will b--come a public oon'aoversy, which I am
    sv.,t neithe: of us parzicularly we.nt

    Richard Sambrook
    Director OfNews
    SBC
    24-m-2093 15 ;15 FROM 0e 7755 3000 TD// 57120 P .01ie

    1)G~.:Lw~- G~/
    fs~ : 6~ f ? o

    Fm= TheRt. Hon, Gc;aid Ka~,~fman, Io,P_


    <

    HO .U~= Oi COViv:ONS
    LON=)ON Svl;A DAA

    20 blsrd: ?D03

    ?=ti~ase C: ConSdencal

    Cevjll LAW=
    CN"==
    13SC : Broadcasi~ Housc
    Por`lsmd Place lx7_A 1;4 A,

    Dear G.iwn

    I lvo7e 6ct_n in touch wi.Sa li1_st<it GampbeL, as a resa'_t o ;-xfvch he Lzas


    sho~n ~c alett~ ~ate= 19 :tr',:z~. ~t he l~s sen: ;o R:r~:d ~arnl3:ao'u-
    coaceU :ng m]n}adon, oftlae BBC's ,awz o dIine.=.. I Low tnns 1.tbeen
    mat^fg and lis-z_ni.-I; to wit B3C caverage of t:c pneivde to Tbe lvan
    ar_d now $ac wcu itsel& and I sin e.,=nelp sorz=rn°_d s- what ztp?~x to
    ~ -o oc b)atant vio~azi~s ozt<~e g~.icP1 nes. `!1s ss a ve_y t~se ~ce.
    The WC Vs bcen trusted um thc yaw, and violation oftJese
    P"xCCJ7. .'1 C5C5 S TII mp vl'~,IL ;~ F7QlaTl:Ji of .'~,.~t im1Sf, I cLItLtSccL I ;)Gk to Tc u,

    tt-:z 0-~'hd -), SI) tctl 'm -J -=Zen cyI to btvc 5~m-'Inca r~:cn5z:-L If
    T Zt--, it approp :~.ec to 0o so, I s?,all bc i~ tcnich viih ._vu n7os t-- n=:t
    few cL-i$, witli `ur.6tc exaacnle_s .

    Yo-.:cs sincerc:y.

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