In May, the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit issued its final correspondence concerning Tim Willcox’s outrageous reporting in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket terror attacks in Paris.
The ECU rejected ours and many others’ criticisms of Willcox, whose statement that “Many critics of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffer hugely at Jewish hands as well” inferred that French Jewry (and all Jews) were responsible for the actions of Israel and therefore may have justified the terror attack on the kosher supermarket.
The ECU also rejected our assertion that Willcox’s “apology” on his Twitter page was inadequate.
We therefore took our complaints to the next level by appealing the ECU’s decision to the BBC Trust, whose correspondence has only now been received, which you can read below. Ultimately, the BBC Trust’s Senior Editorial Adviser “decided that the appeals did not have a reasonable prospect of success.”
It appears that the Senior Editorial Adviser is the arbiter or “gatekeeper” over which complaints even make it into the hands of the 12 Trustees who serve as the BBC’s governing body and it is her judgment that has prevented the Trustees from examining the issue.
BBC Trust Response to Tim Willcox Complaints
In response to the latest correspondence with the BBC, HonestReporting Managing Editor Simon Plosker said:
That the BBC’s whitewash has continued is not altogether surprising based on previous form. Throughout this prolonged and painfully slow complaints procedure, the BBC has shown itself to be willfully blind to the very serious issues at hand.
There are 12 BBC Trustees yet none of them have had the opportunity to review the complaints against Tim Willcox due to a decision made on their behalf by the Trust’s Senior Editorial Adviser. The BBC’s complaints procedure is not fit for purpose and this latest slap in the face to Jewish concerns highlights exactly why a fully independent body should be responsible for examining the BBC’s editorial standards.
