Complaining to Helen Boaden about Jeremy Bowen

Further to this blogpost I have now emailed Helen Boaden and await her response.

RE: Jeremy Bowen's choice of date to hold a Twitter Q&A

Nota Sheep notasheepmaybeagoat@googlemail.com	15:25 (0 minutes ago)
to HelenBoadenCom.

I have been referred to you by NewsOnline Complaints as I was not satisfied with their response to my complaint.

In summary:
The BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, chose one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar to hold a Q&A on the Middle East. That disenfranchised
all religious Jews and the vast majority of not particularly religious Jews.

In response to my query re this choice of date Jeremy Bowen responded via
Twitter that "the timing could be better" that he "did know it was Jewish New Year" but that it was ok because "it doesn't stop quite a few Jews using social media!".

Jeremy Bowen's choice of day for this Q&A clearly discrminated against religious (and not that religious) Jews, who would be unable to take part in the Q&A and thus created a biased debate.

Surely an unbiased BBC Middle East Editor would take care to ensure that no
interested parties would be unable to take part in the Q&A. Would Jeremy Bowen have held such a Q&A on a Friday during Ramadan?

When considering this matter, do bear in mind that Jeremy Bowen's anti-Israel
bias was confirmed by the Editorial Standards Committee of the BBC Trust who published a report into three complaints about him in April 2009. The Editorial Standards Committee upheld three complaints against Jeremy Bowen
on grounds of accuracy and impartiality.


NewsOnline Complaints initial response to my complaint was this:

' Jeremy Bowen did not "choose" this date; he is very busy and it was the earliest day he could fit this event into his schedule. He has acknowledged this in his tweets to you. However, this will not be the only such event with him, so there will be other opportunities for those who may consider they were excluded to take part.

This was not a debate but a question and answer session so there is no question in our view of it being biased.'

This answer was not satisfactory for several reasons. First the explanation of why that day was allocated is not believable or acceptable. An unbiased Middle East Editor would have Rosh  Hashonah noted in his diary and accordingly would not schedule a Q&A for that  date, regardless of whether he was free on that day.

The bare fact is that the BBC's Middle East Editor held a Q&A  session on one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar when the vast majority of Jews would not be able to take part. This decision disenfranchised the vast majority of Jews from taking part. Jeremy Bowen  would not dream of scheduling such an event for a Friday during Ramadan and thus disenfranchising Muslims, would he?

As to the glib comment that 'this will not be the only such event with him, so there will be other opportunities for those who may consider they were excluded to take part.', I find that offensive. Should Jews be satisfied that at some unspecified future date we will be allowed to contribute to a Q&A with the BBC's Middle East Editor? Muslims and Christians every time but Jews only occasionally? Do Jews not pay the BBC licence fee? Is the BBC an institutionally anti-Semitic organisation as well as an anti-Zionist one?


I realise that you have other important matters to concern yourself with at the moment but I do feel that this matter is an important one as it addresses the matter of trust in, and the veracity of, the BBC.

Regards

NotaSheep MaybeaGoat