BBC and Gaza aid charity appeal

Interesting question being raised regarding whether or not the BBC (or other British broadcasters) should air charity appeal for Gaza aid.

Here is the CNN article, though perhaps better to follow British press on this.

excerpt from cnn.com

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The BBC is refusing to broadcast a plea from leading British charities for aid to Gaza, saying the ad would compromise the public broadcaster's appearance of impartiality.
Demonstrators protest at the BBC's central London offices Saturday against the broadcaster's decision.

Demonstrators protest at the BBC's central London offices Saturday against the broadcaster's decision.

The Disasters Emergency Committee, which includes the British Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children and 10 other charities, plans to launch its appeal Monday.

British broadcasters, led by the BBC, originally declined to air the advert -- but in the face of criticism from government ministers and others, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 changed their minds. CNN was not approached to broadcast the ad, a DEC spokesman said.

About 5,000 people demonstrated in front of the BBC's Broadcasting House in central London on Saturday over the broadcaster's stance. Seven people were arrested. Video Watch protest against BBC decision »

The BBC is standing by its decision, director general Mark Thompson wrote in a blog post on the corporation's Web site.

"We concluded that we could not broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully constructed, without running the risk of reducing public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its wider coverage of the story," he wrote Saturday.

"Inevitably an appeal would use pictures which are the same or similar to those we would be using in our news programs but would do so with the objective of encouraging public donations. The danger for the BBC is that this could be interpreted as taking a political stance on an ongoing story," Thompson said....(story continues on the link above)