ARTICLE19 calls on the BBC to reconsider its decision and to broadcast the DEC appeal
The Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal conforms to the humanitarian principles that reliefshould be distributed to civilians in need without partiality, asenshrined in Geneva Conventions common Article 3; Additional Protocol I Article 70; Additional Protocol II Article18(2); as well as the Statutes of the International Red Cross and RedCrescent Movement, the Guiding Principles on the Right to HumanitarianAssistance of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law andothers. Furthermore DEC members have confirmed they are able to workwithout hindrance from the Hamas controlled authorities both toidentify who are most in need of assistance and to channel assistanceto them directly, either through their own staff or well establishedlocal non governmental partners. The DEC appeal is solely concernedwith alleviating the suffering of the inhabitants of Gaza.
The complex political context of the DEC Gaza appeal is nothing new. Inthe past the BBC has not hesitated to broadcast the DEC appeals fordonations to alleviate the suffering caused by other complex politicalemergencies, for example Darfur in 2004, and Rwanda and the FormerYugoslavia in 1994. All conflicts have sides and all conflicts havecasualties. By refusing to broadcast the appeal the BBC raisesquestions over its own partiality. Why grant air time to raise fundsfor victims in Darfur but not Gaza? Both are suffering the consequencesof conflict and have the right to receive aid according to humanitarianlaw and humanitarian standards.
Furthermore, not only does the refusal to broadcast the appeal hamperthe DECs attempts to publicise the call for funds to alleviate humansuffering, but by citing issues of impartiality as their reason, theBBC has effectively called into question the impartial nature of thethirteen DEC members. This could deter the public from donating to thisnon-political humanitarian cause and to future DEC causes.
If the BBC had concerns over appearing partial by broadcasting theappeal, they could have reverted to other means, far less restrictivefor freedom of expression. For instance, the BBC could have introducedthe DEC appeal through reiterating its impartiality in reporting on theconflict.
The pluralistic nature of media in the UK is to be celebrated: severalother channels including ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five, amongstothers, are willing to broadcast the DEC appeal. These should becommended for fulfilling the British public’s right to know about thefull extent of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the assessment byimpartial humanitarian agencies, and for giving the public theopportunity to alleviate suffering. By so doing, these channels arealso fulfilling a public interest function, a mission which the BBC hadcome to symbolise internationally and historically.
This public service function of the BBC was highlighted by MarkThompson, the BBC Director General, when he claimed that the charityappeals were an important part of the BBC’s role as a public servicebroadcaster. “Foremergency appeals, through the Rapid Response Network, the BBC is ableto work in partnership with other broadcasters and media. This uniquecollaboration gives the public the opportunity to support the valuablework of the DEC and its member agencies in saving the lives andlivelihoods of people in situations of dire humanitarian need .”
ARTICLE 19calls on the BBC and its Director General to implement this vision andprinciple impartially, that is without discrimination on the basis ofnational origin, religion, race or ethnicity, and to broadcast the DECGaza appeal.
26 January 2009
ARTICLE 19 believes that attacks against journalists and media are far more commonin Brazil than is commonly thought and many cases, particularly thosefrom smaller towns and cities, are not widely reported.
ARTICLE 19condemns this attack as an attack not only on RAC, but on the right ofall Brazilians to seek and receive information freely. We urge theauthorities to investigate the attack fully and to do all within theirpower to bring those responsible to justice. We also call on theauthorities to take measures to ensure the security of RAC’s facilitiesin Campinas and other cities, particularly in light of the threatsagainst it.
On22 January 2009, a grenade was thrown at a window of one of thebuildings of Rede Anhanguera de Comunicação (RAC) in Campinas. The newsgroup owns a number of newspapers in the State of Sao Paulo, includingCorreio Popular in Campinas. Three men approached an RAC building located in Vila Industrial ataround 9pm on 22 January. One of them broke a window and threw in agrenade, but the window was protected by bars so that the grenade didnot enter the building but instead fell outside, close to the sidewalk.A couple of hours after the attack, RAC’s telephone operator received acall from an unidentified woman saying, “this is only the beginning”.In the end, the grenade failed to explode and no one was hurt in theincident. There were, however, around 100 people in the building at thetime of the attack and some 230 employees are there during regularworking hours. A police file has been opened on the attack.
The motive for the attach is unclear, although some media reports havenoted that it happened on the evening of the day Correio Popularpublished an articleabout a prisoner in the regional penitentiary with alleged links to thecriminal organisation Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC). The prisoneris a suspect in the case of the 2001 murder of the mayor of Campinas.
