Absence of correspondent in southern Israel affects BBC coverage

Just Journalism
11 April '11

Over the last several days the BBC News website has covered the recent escalation in violence between Israel and militants operating out of the Gaza strip. Coverage of this intensification, in particular by BBC correspondent Jon Donnison, predominantly focuses on the effects of Israeli counter-strikes, rather than Hamas rocket fire.

The most recent upsurge in violence comes after Hamas fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus in southern Israel on Thursday, seriously injuring a teenage boy.

The first article to appear on the BBC’s News website about this attack featured an ‘At the scene’ analysis by Jon Donnison. However, the ‘scene’ was not that of the bus attack near Nahal Oz kibbutz, but Gaza, following the swift Israeli counter-strikes against militants:

‘Driving into Gaza City from the border, loud explosions could be heard. A huge plume of black smoke rose up to the north from an apparent Israeli air strike. Ambulances overtook us, speeding the injured to Shifa hospital.’

The sophistication of the rocket used in the attack and the threat that the use of such weaponry poses, as exposed by Just Journalism on Friday, has not made it into the BBC News website’s coverage of the incident.

The BBC does not have a correspondent permanently based in southern Israel to report first-hand on the rocket attacks that afflict the area on a daily basis, which contributes to a tendency to view Israel’s actions as the trigger to violence, rather than a response.

In contrast to this, The Guardian’s Conal Urquart, reporting yesterday from the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, reported on school closures and the effect of constant rocket fire on the commercial life of the region:

‘Each time a rocket is detected, residents are warned with messages relayed by loudspeaker which gives them time to take cover. In prolonged attacks, residents take shelter in strongrooms and bomb shelters.’

This perspective is notably absent from the BBC News website’s reporting of the recent escalation.


Hamas’ role in the violence

Also of note in Donnison’s recent coverage is the issue of control wielded by Hamas over militant groups firing rockets into Israel. In the BBC’s ‘Israel ‘will observe Gaza truce if Hamas stops firing’, the caption of the video accompanying the article reads:

‘The BBC’s Jon Donnison says it remains to be seen if Hamas can stop militants firing rockets.’

Such a caption, and other statements made by Donnison this weekend, serve to diminish Hamas’s culpability in the firing of rockets into Israel, and depict the organisation as endeavouring to prevent other militants in the Gaza strip from firing rockets at Israel independently.

However, as reported by CNN in ‘Hamas claims responsibility for missile strike on bus that wounded boy’, it was the military wing of Hamas itself, the Qassam Brigades, who attacked the Israeli school bus last Thursday. This fact was even noted on the BBC News website on Saturday; however it does not appear to have affected the general downplaying of Hamas’ role.

While questioning Hamas’ ability to ‘reign in’ rocket attacks against Israel, Donnison also implies that any escalation in violence will come as a result of an Israeli military response, rather than from attacks by militants on Israeli civilian targets:

‘How heavily will Israel respond to any breaches in the ceasefire? If there is a heavy response, and there hasn’t been so far, then I think we’re very quickly going to go back into a situation of escalating violence.’

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