Jeremy Bowen expresses personal opinion on Hamas
Whether the exclusion of Hamas - regarded by the EU and US as a terrorist organization - from last year’s negotiations constitutes a ‘fundamental diplomatic failure’ is a matter of opinion and should not be asserted by the journalist as a fact.
AREA OF CONCERN: Factual accuracy
“The Agreement accompanying the BBC’s Charter requires us to produce comprehensive, authoritative and impartial coverage of news and current affairs in the UK and throughout the world to support fair and informed debate... It also states that the BBC is forbidden from expressing an opinion on current affairs or matters of public policy other than broadcasting."
“Our journalists and presenters, including those in news and current affairs, may provide professional judgments but may not express personal opinions on matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy. Our audiences should not be able to tell from BBC programmes or other BBC output the personal views of our journalists and presenters on such matters.”
Transcript of BBC TV Late Evening News
BBC News, by Jeremy Bowen, 27 December 2008
Jeremy Bowen: Palestinians marched up to the barrier Israel has built around Bethlehem tonight to protest. Other reaction to the airstrikes will not be as easy for Israel to handle if Hamas is to be believed. For now though Hamas has taken a heavy blow and even its spokespeople looked shocked.
Eyhab El-Ghosain (Hamas Interior Ministry): Humans are being killed here, nobody is saying a word in front of them. On the other side if there was any Israeli injury we see that allthe world would stand up and say you should stop.
JB: When Britan's foreign secretary David Milliband visited the often-attacked Israeli town of Sderot on the Gaza border last month, the question for Israel's defence minister was not if it would happen, but when.
JB: Will you attack Gaza?
Ehud Barak: Oh, I am not supposed to announce it in front of TV but when the time will come to a wider attack it will follow.
JB: In Israeli towns near Gaza, bus shelters are also bomb shelters. The failure of Israel with its high-tech army to stop relatively crude rocket fire has become a political embarrassment for Israeli leaders. Other offensives into Gaza haven't stopped the rockets. The latest, and its success or failure, will do much to shape the result of the Israeli general election in February. Hamas has not been part of the last year of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The talks have largely ignored Gaza, which is a fundamental diplomatic failure.
JB: By the time the Obamas move into the White House next month, Israel will be hoping to have achieved its objectives in Gaza. It might not be that easy. One of Obama's many challenges is to create a new American policy in the Middle East. The latest crisis between the Israelis and Palestinians this weekend has moved that job higher up his agenda.