• Shopping Cart Shopping Cart
    0Shopping Cart
Campaign Against Antisemitism
  • Link to X
  • Link to Tiktok
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
  • ANTISEMITISM
    • Definition of Antisemitism
    • Recognising Antisemitism
    • The Law of Antisemitism
    • Resources for Teachers
  • RESEARCH
    • Prevalence of Antisemitism
    • Antisemitic Crime Levels
    • Prosecutions for Antisemitism
    • Effects on British Jews
    • Antisemitism in Political Parties
    • EHRC
    • Antisemitism in Universities
    • Antisemitism in Local Authorities
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Media Centre
  • PODCAST
  • ABOUT US
    • Our Work
    • Spokespeople
  • HELP US
    • Subscribe
    • Volunteer with us
    • Intern with us
    • Work with us
    • Become a Student Ambassador
    • Donate
  • CONTACT
    • General Enquiries
    • Media Enquiries
    • Licensing
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
Arts and entertainment, United Kingdom Website

Lord Grade tells Podcast Against Antisemitism BBC’s reportage of Oxford Street incident is “shoddy journalism”

Lord Grade, a former Chairman of the BBC, has described the BBC’s rapportage as “shoddy journalism” in today’s episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism.

In the podcast, Lord Grade described the BBC’s coverage of the recent antisemitic Oxford Street incident, which has come under fire, as a “very poor piece of journalism”.

In response to why he thought that the BBC has been alone among major media outlets in suggesting, without evidence, that the Jewish victims in the incident were also racist and therefore at least partially to blame, Lord Grade described the coverage as “very poor journalism. I wouldn’t put it down to antisemitism. It’s very, very poor journalism on the face of what we know at the moment. It’s just a very, very poor piece of journalism. To describe the antisemitic taunts from the people who launched the attack, which you can see on film, there’s no way you can describe the antisemitism as ‘alleged’, which is what the BBC report says. They then said there were clearly anti-Islamist cries from the bus. There is no evidence for that. It may be true, there may have been, I don’t know, but there is no evidence that anyone’s found so far to support that and the BBC has got to explain two things; why it defended the broadcast without really understanding the nature of the complaint and examining the evidence, and then two, how on earth did they come to make such a pig’s ear of their rapportage.”

Our polling has shown that a majority of British Jews are not satisfied by the BBC’s handling of antisemitism complaints, which is a figure far worse for the BBC than any of the other major broadcasters. Historically, the BBC has handled complaints internally, and only relatively recently has Ofcom been given a role, whereby if the BBC rejects complaints at every stage, a complainant can now escalate the matter to Ofcom. But few members of the public have the patience to get through this uniquely drawn-out process, which they have to do because the BBC so consistently rejects antisemitism complaints. Why, we asked Lord Grade, is the BBC so resistant to acknowledging error, both in this case and over the years?

Lord Grade replied: “Well the first thing to say is that I have found, because I have complained to the BBC even as a former Chairman and as a former Senior Executive in the corporation, I have complained to the BBC and without exception, the first complaint has gone into the programme makers, the editorial people, and without exception they come back, always, they’re never wrong. They always come back, straight away, the default position is ‘we’re not wrong.’ Then when you dig into it and you escalate it to the BBC’s formal complaints procedure, there’s a bit more work done, forensic evidence collecting, and eventually…I don’t think I’ve ever lost a complaint against the BBC at that stage. So the problem lies with the editorial teams who seem incapable of ever admitting quickly that they’re wrong, and I think that’s a very serious failing. What they don’t understand is that admitting you’re wrong and admitting quickly that you’re wrong is a sign of strength, not of weakness, and I think they seem to see it as a sign of weakness, which it isn’t, of course.”

Lord Grade also discussed highlights from his storied career in media and broadcasting, and endorsed Campaign Against Antisemitism’s coming protest outside the BBC.

The podcast with Lord Grade can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel and actor Eddie Marsan.

Related

      
16/12/2021
Search Search
  • Major report reveals that Iran has targeted “prominent Jewish individuals”10/07/2025 - 12:22
  • Success: Home Offices rejects Hamas application for de-proscription10/07/2025 - 11:05
  • Britain’s March Against Antisemitism07/07/2025 - 21:00
  • CAA preparing criminal prosecution of Roger Waters07/07/2025 - 15:43
  • Comedian Reginald D. Hunter appears in court in private prosecution brought by CAA07/07/2025 - 12:33
  • “The only good pig is a dead pig”: CAA uncovers new footage of Bob Vylan04/07/2025 - 17:24
  • Britain’s March Against Antisemitism to be held in central London03/07/2025 - 18:09
  • Glastonbury, and the undoing of Britain30/06/2025 - 20:49
  • Rap duo leads “Death to the IDF” chant at Glastonbury Festival30/06/2025 - 17:28
  • CAA uncovers post by Palestine Action activist which appears to glorify terrorists27/06/2025 - 18:56

We are seeking to recruit a Communications and Research Manager an Education and Outreach Intern to join our London office

Join the fight

Subscribe
Volunteer
Donate

Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.

Related

Justice, justice, you shall pursue - צדק צדק תרדף
© Copyright - Campaign Against Antisemitism, all rights reserved. Our logo is a registered trademark.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is a charitable incorporated organisation registered with the Charity Commission (number 1163790).
Use of our website is subject to our terms. Trees are planted every year to keep our work carbon neutral.
  • Link to X
  • Link to Tiktok
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Mail
Link to: “Vaccination makes you free” sign displayed at anti-vaccination rally in Poland Link to: “Vaccination makes you free” sign displayed at anti-vaccination rally in Poland “Vaccination makes you free” sign displayed at anti-vaccination rally in... Link to: Calls to remove new Austrian Interior Minister from position amid antisemitism allegations Link to: Calls to remove new Austrian Interior Minister from position amid antisemitism allegations Calls to remove new Austrian Interior Minister from position amid antisemitism...
Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top

We use cookies to track use of our website and your preferences. Use of our website is subject to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Read more.Accept cookies and our terms of use

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Terms of use and privacy policy
Accept settingsHide notification only
SIGN UP FOR UPDATES BY E-MAIL

By default you will receive weekly e-mails, but when you receive the first e-mail you can change to daily or monthly e-mails instead.

If you prefer to subscribe later, you can do so by scrolling right to the bottom of this page.