BBC to dismiss Labour complaint over Panorama programme on Party’s antisemitism
The BBC is expected to dismiss a complaint by the Labour Party claiming that the Panorama investigation into Labour antisemitism was a “one-sided authored polemic”.
In the episode, which was titled “Is Labour Anti-Semitic?” and televised in July, former Labour Party employees spoke out publicly to reveal Jeremy Corbyn’s personal meddling in disciplinary cases relating to antisemitism. The programme explained how senior Labour Party staffers, some of whom Campaign Against Antisemitism has known for years, used to run Labour’s disciplinary process independently, but soon after Mr Corbyn’s election as Party leader found themselves contending with his most senior aides, who were brazen in their efforts to subvert due process.
The Party submitted a 28-page complaint to the BBC, claiming the programme failed to meet the BBC’s standards because of “the tendentious and politically slanted script; the bias in the selection of interviewees; and the failure to identify the political affiliations or records of interviewees in a highly controversial, sensitive and contested subject produced a programme that was a one-sided authored polemic”. Labour also resented the decision to allow documentary-maker John Ware to make the programme, as he allegedly has a “record of public political hostility to Jeremy Corbyn, his politics and leadership of the Labour party”.
However, according to The Guardian, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit, which is the top level of the broadcaster’s internal complaints process, has concluded its review of Labour’s concerns and has decided to back the makers of the episode. Labour can now take its complaint to Ofcom, the media regulator, but a final decision from Ofcom is likely to take time.
During the programme Labour’s press team made claims that the staffers featured had political axes to grind and lacked credibility, and it is understood that they and Mr Ware have now commenced libel proceedings against the Labour Party. The libel cases are being brought by Mark Lewis, a highly esteemed media lawyer who is also an honorary patron of Campaign Against Antisemitism.
On 28th May, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a full statutory investigation following a formal referral and detailed legal representations from Campaign Against Antisemitism, which is the complainant.
In recent months, thirteen MPs and three peers have resigned from the Labour Party over antisemitism, along with a large number of MEPs, councillors and members.
Over 57,000 people have now signed our petition denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as an antisemite and declaring him “unfit to hold any public office.”
