Radio Times:
Supreme Court says Balen Report is exempt from Freedom of Information rules
- Written By
- Jack Seale
The BBC has won an eight-year battle to keep an internal report on its coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict secret.
The Supreme Court today ruled that the 2004 Balen Report, which was commissioned by the BBC to investigate the impartiality of its coverage of Middle Eastern affairs, was exempt from the 2000 Freedom of Information Act because it is held “for the purposes of journalism”.
The saga began in 2005 when London lawyer Steven Sugar made a Freedom of Information request asking to see the report. The BBC refused, citing the fact that it is only subject to FOI requests “in respect of information held for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature”.
Ah, so the State protects its own propaganda wing. Truly suprising indeed.
The BBC state that it is impartial – in fact, they say that impartiality is in the BBC’s DNA.
So why are they so desperate to hide this report from the license paying public, who pay their gross salaries and expenses.?
Because in any state of corruption, one hand washes the other.