The BBC is facing a growing internal crisis after more than 200 Jewish staff members accused the corporation’s Board of ignoring repeated calls for an official investigation into alleged anti-Semitism and bias within the organization.
According to Mail Online, the group made up of employees, contractors, suppliers, and contributors first wrote to BBC Chairman Samir Shah in July 2024, demanding a formal investigation into what they described as “systemic problems of anti-Semitism and bias at the BBC.”
Attached to their letter was a detailed report titled “Being Jewish and Working at the BBC,” containing testimonies from staff who claimed the corporation was no longer “a safe space to be Jewish.”
More than a year later, the same group sent a follow-up letter to the BBC Board on Friday, accusing it of providing “words, not action” and continuing to ignore their concerns.
Prominent Media Figures Among Signatories
Current and former BBC staff including producer Leo Pearlman, former ITV Head of Entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz, former BBC executive Danny Cohen, and several present employees signed the letter demanding accountability.
“Despite being presented with documentary evidence of anti-Jewish bias within the BBC, among BBC News and Current Affairs specifically, this basic request went unheeded,” the letter stated.
“We are still a minority with a simple entreaty to the BBC Board: the BBC’s repeatedly substantiated anti-Jewish racism has now been ‘called out’ who will be held accountable?”
A representative for the signatories told Mail Online:
“We drew all this to the BBC’s attention over a year ago, and since then, we continue as Jews to be ignored, gaslit, and at worst smeared as a ‘lobby’.
The BBC needs to live up to its values. This would never happen to any other minority. It is racism, and the BBC has failed to deal with this fundamental problem from the very top. We are calling for real action and accountability, not more hollow words.”
Wider Allegations of Bias
The renewed accusations follow claims made in an internal report by former editorial adviser Michael Prescott, who alleged that the broadcaster exhibited a systemic anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the Gaza conflict.
In response to the revelations, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch condemned the BBC’s handling of the complaints, calling it a “shameful failure of leadership.”
“It is indefensible that the BBC ignored complaints of anti-Semitism and bias from more than 200 of its own staff and contributors for nearly 18 months,” Badenoch told the Daily Mail.
“These were not isolated errors they were repeated editorial failures under the supervision of [BBC News and Current Affairs CEO] Deborah Turness.
The BBC’s duty is to report truthfully and impartially, not to provide cover for extremists or smear Israel with falsehoods. A public service broadcaster cannot allow anti-Semitism or bias to infect its journalism. The BBC Board must now intervene to restore trust and ensure accountability begins within BBC News itself.”
0 Comments