Beheading the BBC

When a newspaper or media outlet makes a mistake, it rarely admits it. And If it does, it publishes or broadcasts a vague and brief apology somewhere that makes it difficult for the reader or viewer to notice. The British Broadcasting Corporation did the opposite. It devoted a significant portion of its airtime over the past few days to admitting and apologizing for its mistake. It also recalled some of its previous professional mistakes. The program anchor on the English World Service summarized the situation by saying this is a moment of crisis for the BBC. But none of it atoned for the corporation in the eyes of its critics, who want nothing but to silence the broadcaster or cut off its head.

The crisis began with the leak of an internal BBC report that heavily criticized the famous documentary program "Panorama," which had produced an episode aired last year about the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 by Donald Trump's supporters in protest of his loss in the 2020 election. The Panorama program combined two segments from two different Trump speeches, leading the viewer to think that Trump was also heading to storm the Capitol. The 8,000-word BBC report also criticized what it claimed was the corporation's extreme bias in favor of the Palestinians. The Telegraph, which published the report, fanned the flames of the crisis and described the matter as one of systematic bias against Trump and Israel in favor of Hamas. Combining the two segments was certainly a major mistake. However, the bias against Israel is a lie fabricated by a Jewish right-wing lobby that claims certain journalists in the Arabic section support Hamas, while in reality, they were restricted from covering the story during the aggression on Gaza.

However, all these accusations are merely a pretext being used to dismantle a media model that the BBC pioneered. It is the model of public service media, funded by the state, that seeks to provide journalistic and media services not for profit, but for awareness, education and to express the pulse of the people in an objective, independent way and do so impartially. Supporters of the current right-wing in British politics, media and journalism seized on the BBC's stumble and launched a political campaign that is the most violent in decades. They demanded that "heads roll" and that the government halt the corporation's funding from taxpayers, forcing it to become like other media outlets. Furthermore, right-wing supporters added that if the BBC could not adapt to that situation, it was fated for closure and extinction. Of course, Trump and his aides joined this campaign, describing the BBC as corrupt and deceptive. Trump's attorneys threatened to sue for $1 billion in damages for defamation if the program is not removed by Friday.

Trump, who lies with every single breath he takes, has never once apologized to those he has wronged. However, he found an opportunity in the BBC's "slip-up" to take revenge on the press that attacks him, particularly in America. The BBC is not infallible. Its positions on many Arab issues are ambiguous, and its susceptibility to Israeli pressure was starkly exposed during the aggression on Gaza. Nevertheless, it is difficult to compare the BBC to Western right-wing newspapers and media outlets, which adopt Israeli positions without the slightest scrutiny. The public service model represented by the BBC is facing a fierce battle— political, media and advertising-based. It is crucial to defend this model.