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| Britain | |
| BBC spent almost £333,000 concealing Mideast 'Balen Report' | |
| 2012-08-27 | |
Conservative news site reveals broadcaster's efforts to suppress a 2004 study on its coverage of Israeli-Paleostinian conflict
The BBC was recently forced to reveal the legal fees as a result of a Freedom of Information request from conservative news site The Commentator, which reported on Sunday that the total amount was £332,780.47, more than $500,000. The real figure is likely higher, because in-house hours and Value-Added Tax were not calculated into the released figures, the website said. The Balen Report, written by veteran journalist Malcolm Balen, was originally commissioned in response to allegations that the BBC had an anti-Israel bias in its reporting. It was never released, leading to a series of legal battles to divulge its contents. The revelation comes at a time when the publicly funded BBC is facing deep cuts and looking to downsize. BBC head Mark Thompson recently said the corporation was "getting very, very close to the edge." The BBC's response to The Commentator's inquiry, dated August 10, 2012, reiterated the organization's stance that the release of the Balen Report was not obligatory under the Freedom of Information Act. The broadcaster cited a 2010 UK Supreme Court judgment to that effect. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 And the Brits have Lucknow... Oh, wait... |
| Posted by: mojo 2012-08-27 16:49 |
| #3 I remember once I was in Israel and we got Al Jazeera in english, CNN international and BBC international. The least biased was Al Jazeera in english (of course Al J in arabic is a different story), the most biased was the BBC (which also came with the trademark sneer) |
| Posted by: lord garth 2012-08-27 10:42 |
| #2 Francisco Franco is still dead. |
| Posted by: Rjschwarz 2012-08-27 10:18 |
| #1 In other nuus, the siege of Mafeking is now at an end. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-08-27 03:30 |