There's a lot of todo about the BBC's backing off from the idea of holding a fundraising appeal for Gaza. Liberal Conspiracy objects, as does Iain Dale. David Vance reckons it's all done for show anyway.The Beeb's big boss, Mark Thompson, spins the rather unconvincing line that it's because they can't be sure the aid can actually be delivered on the ground. Pull the other one Mark.
It looks to me as if people are missing a trick here. The BBC's BBC's decision has been complicated hugely by the imminent publishing of the judgement by the House of Lords' on the Balen Report into an alleged lack of even-handedness in the corporation's reporting of the conflict in the Middle East over the years. If, as is widely expected, the Lords rule that editorial documents are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act's exemption for data held for journalistic purposes, they will be forced to publish the Balen report in fairly short order. If, as is also expected, the Balen report documents the reality of a systematic BBC bias against Israel, then the implications for the Beeb will be explosive, and it is likely that heads would have to roll.
You can imagine how much worse it will be for the top brass if the BBC has just days before run a fundraising appeal for the people in Gaza.
It may even be that the BBC has had some inkling of the contents of the Lords' judgement and that their behaviour now is actually a case of creating some form of defence - "Look at all the criticism we took for not doing a Gaza appeal! Biased? Us?"
Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.