Mr David Hansen
[email address]
20 February 2009
Dear Mr Hansen
RFI 20090154 – Freedom of Information Act request
Thank you for your email requesting information regarding the BBC’s decision not to broadcast the
Disasters Emergency Committee’s appeal for Gaza. The reference number for your request is
RFI20090154.
The information that you requested is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the
Act”).
Your request falls outside the scope of the Act because information held by the BBC and the other
public service broadcasters is only covered by the Act if it is held for purposes “other than those of
journalism, art or literature” (see Schedule I, Part VI of the Act). We are not therefore obliged to
supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information that supports
and is closely associated with these creative activities. Information which is not subject to
disclosure under the Act because of Schedule I might otherwise be exempt from disclosure
because of the application of other provisions of the Act.
For more information about how the Act applies to the BBC please see www.bbc.co.uk/foi. Please
note that this guidance is not intended to be a comprehensive legal interpretation of how the Act
applies to the BBC.
However, I can volunteer the following information outside the scope of the Act, regarding the
circumstances surrounding the BBC’s editorial decision, which I hope you will find helpful.
When there is a major humanitarian crisis, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) comes
together and, if it believes various criteria are met and a major public appeal is justified, asks the
BBC and other broadcasters to consider broadcasting an appeal.
On this occasion, after very careful consideration, the BBC decided not to broadcast an appeal for
Gaza.
One reason for not broadcasting an appeal was a concern about whether aid raised by the appeal
could actually be delivered on the ground. There have been considerable logistical difficulties in
delivering aid into Gaza.
The BBC was unwilling to ask for donations in a situation where it could not be certain that the aid
donated by its audience would reach the people who were suffering. There had been considerable
difficulties with the delivery of aid historically and the situation continued to be volatile. It would
have been possible to review this aspect of the decision if aid access were to improve or the
ceasefire become more robust, provided that was the sole reason for turning down the request.
However, after looking at all the circumstances, the BBC also concluded that a free-standing
appeal could not be broadcast, no matter how carefully constructed, without running the risk of
reducing public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in its wider coverage of the story. The danger
for the BBC is that this could be interpreted as taking a political stance on the ongoing story.
Gaza remains a major ongoing news story, in which humanitarian issues – the suffering and
distress of civilians and combatants on both sides of the conflict, the debate about who is
responsible for causing it and what should be done about it – are at the heart of the story. The BBC
has and will continue to cover the human side of the conflict in Gaza extensively across the news
services where all of the issues can be reported in context in an objective and balanced manner.
It is important to remember that the BBC’s editorial decision not to broadcast this particular appeal
does not prevent the DEC continuing with their appeal for donations and people are able to
contribute should they choose to do so.
Finally, you may be interested to know that the BBC Trust has published their decision on the
appeal as well as the supporting documentation that they considered. For further details please
see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/appeals/dec_gaza_decision.html.
Appeal rights
The BBC does not offer an internal review when the information requested is not covered by the
Act. If you disagree with our decision you can appeal to the Information Commissioner. Contact
details are: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF telephone 01625 545 700 or see www.ico.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely,
James Leaton Gray
Head of Information Policy & Compliance
