Gaza charity raises £1 mil despite BBC's ban

Despite a decision by the BBC and Sky News not to air an appeal for aid to Gaza, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) managed to double the money raised overnight to more than £1 million after the appeal aired on three British commercial stations, the charity said Tuesday.

“The appeal went out on ITV news, channel 4 and channel 5 and the money raised has doubled overnight,” Vicki Leverett, DEC press officer, told AlArabiya.net.

“All the money raised will go directly to helping the innocent families in Gaza who have been left without basic everyday necessities that we take for granted such as food, shelter and healthcare,” DEC's chief executive, Brendan Gormley, said.

Media activists and humanitarian campaigners around the world have condemned the refusal by Britain’s only 24-hour news stations to broadcast the charity appeal for emergency funds for the people of Gaza, citing objectivity concerns.

The three-minute video shows images of destitute Palestinian women and children weeping while rummaging for food and shelter amid the rubble caused by Israel’s 22-day offensive on the Strip. It does not blame Israel or any other party for the devastation that left at least 412 children dead and 1,855 injured.

The DEC, a consortium of 13 charities that includes well-known groups such as the Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children, created the appeal because of the humanitarian need in Gaza and “the feeling there was public support,” explained Leverett.

“The way these appeals always work is the broadcasters agree to help develop an appeal, this is the first time where there hasn’t been a consensus,” said Leverett. “So it’s a unique situation.”

The BBC’s decision was a rare breech of a 1963 agreement with the committee to broadcast charity appeals, and led Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News to announce Monday it would not follow suit.

"The conflict in Gaza forms part of one of the most challenging and contentious stories for any news organisation to cover,” John Ryley, head of Sky News, was quoted by AFP as saying.

“Our commitment as journalists is to cover all sides of that story with uncompromising objectivity," he added.

Ryley’s comments were followed by Adrian Wells, Sky News's head of foreign news, who said on Monday that the Gaza situation is so emotive, that any objective news agency must maintain its distance when covering such issues.

"We have to, as an international channel, focus on our primary role and that is to report the story and not become the story,” he said.

"Passions are raised on this story... and that is part of the backdrop of why we've made the decision we've made,” he added.

DEC’s chief executive challenged the BBC's concern about impartiality.

"We are totally apolitical and are driven by the principles of the Geneva conventions in terms of impartiality and neutrality,” Gormley told the U.K.’s Guardian on Thursday. “This appeal is a response to those humanitarian principles. The BBC seems to be confusing impartiality with equal airtime."

We have to, as an international channel, focus on our primary role and that is to report the story and not become the story

John Ryley, Sky News

Although the ban garnered significant media attention over the weekend, it was not clear whether this translated into donations or not, since as DEC’s Leverett noted such news sends “a different kind of message than the appeal.”

“Children of Gaza are suffering, many struggling to survive,” begins the video. “Today this is not about the rights and wrongs of the conflict. These people simply need your help,” says the voiceover, as cries of children and weeping of women are heard in the background.

“Gaza looks like it has been hit by earthquake.” (see the appeal on AlArabiya.net’s Video Forum at http://evideo.alarabiya.net/)

The scale of devastation is only now becoming evident, says the video, with 60 percent of the population living in poverty without basic vital facilities such as water and electricity.

According to the DEC about half a million Gazans are without running water and more than one million are dependent on aid.

Reactions to ban

The BBC and Sky News claims they would not air the emergency aid appeal out of concern over maintaining objective reporting were dismissed by media activists and humanitarian campaigners alike.

Aid groups at Egypt Rafah border, one of the two main gates through which humanitarian aid enters Gaza, say that very little aid has reached the residents of the besieged territory and more needs to be done.

Ahmed Oraby, director of the Egyptian Red Crescent, told AlArabiya.net Tuesday that such a ban will only compound the difficulties aid agencies face getting enough money and supplies.

“This ban is ridiculous because it flies in the face of the facts on the ground,” he said.

Oraby said that little aid has passed through the border and more must be done to bring aid to the 1.5 million residents who now face more than $1.6 billion in reconstruction costs.

“Until now, we have only received 4,176 tons of medical supplies and 5119 tons of basic food supplies. We still need more aid and refusing to air the DEC’s appeal does not take us in that direction,” he explained.

The DEC said it feared the BBC's decision would impact the effectiveness of its appeal.

"We are used to our appeal getting into every household and offering a safe and necessary way for people to respond. This time we will have to work a lot harder because we won't have the free airtime or the powerful impact of appearing on every TV and radio station," DEC's Gormley was quoted by the Guardian as saying.

This ban is ridiculous because it flies in the face of the facts on the ground

Ahmed Oraby, Egyptian Red Crescent

Western media bias

Khaled Mouammar, president of Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) attributed the decisions not to air the appeal to “Zionist-backed media censorship” and not concerns about objectivity.

“The real reasons for the ban are obvious. Both the BBC and Sky News are not objective in their reporting of the Gaza crisis. They are the mouthpieces of the powerful Israeli lobby,” Mouammar told Alarabiya.net.

“To air the appeal and show the level of destruction in Gaza is to disprove western mythology about the Jewish State as the only democracy in the Middle East, and to show the brutality of Israel,” he explained. “This in turn is bound to change public opinion of western masses.”

The real reasons for the ban are obvious. Both the BBC and Sky News are not objective in their reporting of the Gaza crisis. They are the mouthpieces of the powerful Israeli lobby

Khaled Mouammar, Canadian Arab Federation

Jeff Monaghan from CKCU FM 93.1, an independent and self-described alternative Canadian radio station, said the ban is no surprise given the bias of western media outlets towards Israel.

“The BBC and Sky News are not objective to begin with. The ban therefore enforces the western mainstream perception of Israel as a trustworthy ally and beacon of democracy, and Arabs as untrustworthy, violent and uncivilized,” he told AlArabiya.net.

Monaghan added that the ban by the leading 24-hour news stations should be viewed within the context of western states' punishing of Palestinians for democratically supporting Hamas.

He said the Canadian media has been complicit with the ban by failing to report on it in an attempt to keep Canadians in the dark.

“They (Canadian mainstream media) have been complicit in as much as they are not reporting the ban. Also remember that the Canadian media have been overwhelmingly in support of Israel's war,” he explained.

Independent media are essential to combat the blinding bias of mainstream media, he added.

“In events like these, Indymedia must carry on with its good work of speaking truth to power.”

The BBC and Sky News are not objective to begin with. The ban therefore enforces the western mainstream perception of Israel as a trust worthy ally and beacon of democracy, and Arabs as untrustworthy, violent and uncivilized

Jeff Monaghan, CKCU