Latest news with #DeborahTurness
The Sun
19-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
BBC is on ‘final warning' after being rocked by a triple whammy of scandals
THE BBC is on its 'final warning' after being rocked by a triple whammy of scandals, government insiders say. The public-funded broadcaster faces tougher regulation by MPs unless it turns itself around, The Sun on Sunday understands. The Beeb is in crisis after Masterchef presenters Greg Wallace and John Torode were sacked over allegations of inappropriate and racist language. It is also facing massive questions over its Glastonbury coverage, which streamed crowds chanting 'Death of the IDF" led by punk duo Bob Vylan. And earlier this week, the BBC was found to have breached its own guidelines by airing a Gaza documentary narrated by the son of a Hamas official. Hamas is a banned terror group in Britain. But despite this, BBC head of news Deborah Turness sparked fresh fury by telling staff the Hamas government of Gaza is 'different' to its military wing - who slaughtered Jews in the October 7 terror attack. A government source said: 'This is the BBC's final warning. The public expects better - and so do we. 'When you are funded by taxpayers' hard-earned cash, there's no excuse for these kinds of failures. 'The BBC needs to get a grip or risk losing trust for good.' Bosses at the BBC are being hauled into parliament to be quizzed by MPs on the scandals after the summer. The government is currently undertaking a full warts and all review of the BBC's Charter - which sets out how it will be funded and how it answers to the government. BBC boss admits he KNEW Huw Edwards' arrest was over most serious level of child sex abuse pics It is considering giving ministers more powers to hold BBC execs to account. Ian Austin - a former Labour MP who now sits as a peer - today blasts the BBC over the shameful failures. Writing in The Sun on Sunday, he said: 'I spent decades defending the BBC. Not any more. 'It has gone from the world's best broadcaster to a national embarrassment. 'That is why even long-time supporters like me are beginning to ask why we should have to pay for it. 'You might as well replace BBC bosses with the cast of the Muppet Show.' 4 4 4
The Sun
18-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Israel's ambassador to Britain says she has ‘no confidence' in BBC's head of news following Hamas remarks
ISRAEL'S ambassador to Britain says she has 'no confidence' in the BBC's head of news following controversial remarks about Hamas. Tzipi Hotovely slammed Corporation executive Deborah Turness for insisting there is a difference between Hamas' political leadership and its military wing. 2 Ms Turness sparked a row this week when she told an all-staff call on the BBC's Gaza documentary scandal that 'we need to continually remind people of the difference'. It is despite the British government saying any distinction is 'artificial' and Hamas is a 'single terrorist organisation'. In a letter to BBC boss Tim Davie, Ms Hotovely said: 'This is an utterly outrageous position to take… it shows a shocking lack of understanding about the nature of Hamas by the head of BBC News.' She added: 'I have absolutely no confidence in Mrs Turness's ability to deal with this issue sufficiently and believe that a fundamental change is required in the approach of the BBC to address this systemic issue properly.' A BBC spokesman said earlier this week that Ms Turness was not implying that Hamas was a single terrorist organisation. They added: 'The BBC constantly makes clear on our programmes and platforms that Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK Government and others. 'We are also clear that we need to describe to our audiences the complexities of life in Gaza, including within the structure of Hamas, which has run the civilian functions of Gaza.' 2
Times
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Ignorance about Hamas shows BBC News boss must go
F or almost two years now I have been raising serious concerns about antisemitism and systemic anti-Israel bias by the BBC in its coverage of Israel's war against Hamas. This week the BBC was forced to admit a major breach of editorial standards following revelations that its film Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was narrated by the 13-year-old son of a Hamas government official. Some might hope that this failure would be a turning point for the BBC. Yet hours later Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News, told journalists during an all-staff meeting that there is a 'difference' between the political and military wings of Hamas. 'I think it's an important point of detail that we need to continually remind people of,' she stressed. Turness's guidance is simply not true. The UK government makes no such distinction. Under British law Hamas is 'proscribed in its entirety' as a terrorist organisation because any attempt to distinguish 'between the various parts of Hamas is artificial'. As the leader of BBC News, on a £430,000 salary, Turness ought to know such basic points. Ironically, she is also the driving force behind the much-derided BBC Verify fact-checking service. Perhaps they could help her out here. This leaked video is damning evidence of the failures of accuracy that are corroding the BBC's output when it comes to the Gaza war. Crucially, it also reveals that those who lead the BBC simply do not understand the genocidal terrorist ideals that infuse every element of Hamas. This has played a critical role in creating a public perception that Hamas is legitimate, a resistance movement rather than a terrorist army that seeks the death of all Jews. The BBC's legitimisation of Hamas began as soon as they started murdering babies and raping women on October 7. The refusal to call Hamas terrorists has been followed as the war progressed by the corporation's daily willingness to report unverified figures and spurious claims from the 'Hamas-run health ministry'. Driven by a hunger to break news and get clicks on social media, the BBC's approach has been to report first and ask questions later. It seems that only BBC executives cannot see what others so clearly can. The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has spoken of 'catastrophic' failings at the BBC and its 'problems of leadership'. Ofcom's CEO, Dame Melanie Dawes, has raised concerns that the BBC's failings are eroding public trust. It's time to stop the rot. That begins with asking whether Turness is the right person to restore the reputation of BBC News. I believe it's time for a change. Danny Cohen is a former director of BBC Television
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
BBC to roll out anti-Semitism awareness training after string of scandals
The BBC is set to introduce new anti-Semitism awareness training following a string of scandals, The Telegraph understands. Tim Davie, the director-general, has moved to reassure Jewish members of staff concerned about the corporation's culture and leadership amid allegations that it is institutionally anti-Semitic. The BBC has come under fire over 'catastrophic failures' that include the broadcasting of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set, in which the rapper chanted 'death to the IDF'. It was also criticised for airing a documentary about the war in Gaza that had prominently featured the son of a Hamas official, a family connection not disclosed to viewers at the time. The BBC's leadership is planning now to roll out expanded anti-Semitism training. Modules addressing anti-Jewish sentiment are being devised by HR specialists, insiders said. Managers may be offered further specialist training to help with decision-making around sensitive subjects. Sources said the new training material was intended to deal specifically with anti-Semitism and would be separate from courses to educate staff on the intricacies of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The BBC's coverage of the conflict, including its refusal to call Hamas 'terrorists', has eroded confidence among some Jewish members of staff. On Tuesday, The Telegraph revealed that Deborah Turness, the BBC's head of news, told staff that the Hamas government of Gaza was different from its military wing. The Government makes no such distinction and Hamas is 'proscribed in its entirety'. She made the comments in a meeting intended to reassure staff after the broadcast of the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which has now been pulled. A report found that the BBC broke its own guidelines by not disclosing that Abdullah, a boy at the centre of the documentary, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the Hamas-run government's deputy minister of agriculture The Board of Deputies of British Jews raised concerns about Ms Turness's comments, saying the corporation 'appears to be obfuscating and minimising the BBC's failings'. Changes 'urgently needed' It said changes in the corporation's coverage of Israel and issues sensitive to the Jewish community were 'urgently needed'. The row is the latest in a series that has led to accusations that the BBC is institutionally anti-Semitic. In 2024, a letter signed by Jewish BBC employees to Samir Shah, the chairman, accused the corporation of 'gaslighting' them over concerns about anti-Semitism. It alleged that the broadcaster had 'a serious institutional racism problem'. Danny Cohen, a former BBC One controller, was among the signatories. Word of the new anti-Semitism training was welcomed by some insiders, who suggested it was a positive step to ensure staff felt comfortable and that the BBC's output and editorial decision-making were improved.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The video that exposes the BBC's rotten moral core
When it comes to Israel, no matter how low the BBC sinks, it always finds grim new depths to plumb. Deborah Turness, head of news at the Corporation, has told a staff meeting that Hamas's government is 'different' from its paramilitary wing. She made the comments in a meeting called to address the 'catastrophic failure' that saw the BBC air the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone without telling viewers that the narrator was the son of a deputy minister in the Gaza government. A leaked video shows Turness claiming that the father was 'a member of the Hamas-run government, which is different to being part of the military wing of Hamas'. She adds that 'we need to continually remind people of the difference'. It is another slide into the moral morass for an organisation that has spent the two years since the October 7 terrorist attacks assiduously trashing what little reputation it had left as a fair and impartial reporter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That reputation will never recover from the Corporation's decision to continue livestreaming Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set even as the lead vocalist began leading the crowd in calls for 'death, death to the IDF'. The way things are going, Hamas would be well advised to distance itself from the BBC. Turness is wrong as a matter of fact and as a matter of law. For years, useful idiots in the British foreign policy arena promoted the fiction that Hamas's politburo was a separate entity to its paramilitary wing: the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. This allowed the organisation to escape comprehensive proscription. That changed in 2021 when the Government concluded that 'the approach of distinguishing between the various parts of Hamas is artificial' and that Hamas is 'a complex but single terrorist organisation'. A person who invites support for Hamas in the UK, even if they specify only the 'political wing', commits an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000. The BBC's head of news might be expected to know this, but it is not only Turness's ignorance that is troubling. It is the attempt to downplay the gravity of the editorial failings that put the Gaza documentary on the air and the breach of trust with viewers that it represented. A news organisation that felt sincere remorse over this episode would not be trying to weasel its way out of responsibility. The BBC is too rotten to the core with error, arrogance and ideology to be truly contrite, especially when its favourite punching bag is involved. The anti-Israel bias is so systemic that it has become an inextricable part of the Corporation's identity. It could no sooner give up its hostile framing of Israel than it could ditch the opening theme to The Archers. But a BBC that can't be even-handed on Israel is a BBC that can no longer be trusted.
