BBC,BSkyB Assailed for Refusing to Carry Gaza Appeal

In more than 80 years as a publicly financed broadcaster with an audience of millions at home and around the world, the BBC has rarely been buffeted as severely as it has in recent days over its decision not to broadcast a television appeal by aid agencies for victims of Israel's recent military actions in Gaza. BBC executives made the decision late last week and defiantly reaffirmed it on Monday, citing their concern with protecting the corporation's impartiality in the Arab-Israeli dispute. The dispute stirs high passions, and the BBC, like other news organizations, has struggled uneasily for years to strike a balance, even as some critics claim it has tilted heavily toward Israel and others claim it has favored the Palestinians. British Sky Broadcasting on Monday joined the BBC in refusing to broadcast an appeal for victims of violence in Gaza. The three-week Israeli campaign in Gaza that ended nine days ago had already elicited a fresh barrage of complaints about BBC bias, for and against Israel. But the decision to block the aid appeal had the effect of magnifying the protests, and their virulence.