I almost feel sorry for the BBC

This morning a video of the BBC journalist Alan Johnston has been released. The BBC played a large part of the tape on the radio this morning. In the video Alan Johnston stated that in his three years in the Palestinian territories he had "witnessed the huge suffering of the Palestinian people... suffering that is unacceptable... imprisoned for no reason... people are killed on a daily basis... economic suffering is terrible... 40 years of Israeli occupation which has been supported by the west..."

When previous hostage videos have been aired the BBC have speculated that the words spoken may have been scripted by the hostage takers. Exceptions include the case of Norman Kember it was always clearly stated that "BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson said Mr Kember had appeared to reflect his own opinions in the video as he was "very much critical" of the British and US presence in the country. "The ludicrous thing really is that they've captured four people, of whom he's one, who are their best friends in the West," he said of the kidnappers.

So which stance should the BBC take regarding Alan Johnston's video? He has after all been described as a "friend of the Palestinian people" by the head of Fatah, Marwan Barghouti, here, by his father here and alluded to by Mark Thompson, the BBC DG, here.

If the views expressed in the video are Alan Johnston's then he is hardly an unbiased reporter on Israeli/Palestinian events. If they are not his views then why are the BBC not speculating on the possibility of his being forced to say those words. If the latter is the case, then the BBC will no doubt, and reasonably, claim that they cannot speculate for fear of putting Alan Johnston at greater risk; in which case I look forward to Alan Johnston repudiating his words on his release.

This really does put the BBC in a tricky position re their unbiased editorial policy on Israel, perhaps now would be the time to release the Balen Report? Perhaps not...