A TOP BBC presenter has been rapped by her bosses after referring to the genocide in Gaza.
Katty Kay, the BBC’s US special correspondent, made the comment on The Rest Is Politics US, to the ire of the corporation – which refuses to describe the genocide against Palestinians as such.
The BBC’s stance puts the corporation with a raft of expert opinion from observers across the world.
Kay, who anchored the BBC’s coverage of the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections, made the comments while speaking on an episode of The Rest of Politics US with former Donald Trump communications chief Anthony Scaramucci.
In an episode recorded last month, she said: “I know there is so much anger in the Democratic Party, understandably, and about what has happened in Gaza and Israel, and the government of Netanyahu’s response to that, and the genocide that is being committed there.”
The complaint and the response do not appear to have been shared publicly but was reported in The Telegraph.
The paper reported that the BBC responded to the complainer, saying that Kay’s comment “did not meet our editorial standards”.
The BBC said Kay had “meant to attribute the characterisation of events” in Gaza to “certain Democrats”, The Telegraph reports, who believed Israel had perpetrated genocide but had “but failed to do so clearly”.
The BBC reportedly said: “The wording she used made it sound like she was endorsing the description as her own, and she did not provide appropriate context.
“Ms Kay is employed by BBC Studios and occasionally contributes to BBC News platforms.
“She is expected to uphold BBC editorial values in her public appearances including when she collaborates with other media organisations, as was the case in this episode.
“She regrets having failed to do so with enough clarity in this instance and will use this as a learning opportunity.”
In the BBC’s most recent fortnightly complaints report, there were four complaints relating to Israel or Palestine which had reached stage two of the corporation’s process.
In one complaint, BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen was accused of “anti-Israel bias” for describing Israel’s actions in Lebanon “as akin to a war crime whilst failing to inform audiences why Israel was raiding villages and destroying buildings in Southern Lebanon”.
The BBC’s executive complaints unit (ECU) said: “Mr Bowen was speaking about Israel’s offensive in Iran.
“He noted that Israel wanted regime change and would therefore ‘keep hammering’ it, and that this approach extended to its actions in Lebanon, adding, ‘They end up killing a lot of civilians, and not just causing destruction during the raids but then going into places and destroying them, as a further act – well, there is a war crime associated with this, if it is proved, called wanton destruction – and that is the technique they are using’.
“In the ECU’s view this formulation fell short of stating as fact the actions of the IDF in Lebanon amounted to a war crime. Rather, it said there was a war crime associated with the techniques used, whilst indicating it had yet to be proven.
“The guidelines allow for correspondents and reporters to offer expert judgements on events, provided these are based on sound evidence. The ECU considered the context offered the requisite evidence.”
