Category: 91Èȱ¬
Date: 03.10.2005
Printable version
The Board of Governors has today published the terms of reference and announced the Chairman and members of the independent panel it has appointed to review the impartiality of the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Sir Quentin Thomas, President of the British Board of Film Classification and formerly Political Director in the Northern Ireland Office, will chair the independent panel of five who collectively have experience of government, politics, conflict resolution, broadcasting and journalism.
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The review, which will begin later this month and report to the Governors in the spring of 2006, will include output analysis to be carried out by Loughborough University and audience research to be carried out by Opinion Leader Research.
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The panel will also invite written submissions from representative bodies and interested parties, call witnesses who may include 91Èȱ¬ staff, and take account of complaints and comments from individual licence-fee payers.
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Sir Quentin Thomas said: "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a complex and sensitive subject.
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"Because of its importance, and because the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage often attracts comment and criticism from all sides, a review of its impartiality, carried out independently both of the 91Èȱ¬ and of interest groups, is appropriate.
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"The panel will ensure that, in the course of its work, all shades of opinion are considered and taken account of before we present our report to the Board of Governors."
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The review of the 91Èȱ¬'s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the second commissioned by the Board of Governors under its new arrangements independent from 91Èȱ¬ management.
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Michael Grade, Chairman of the 91Èȱ¬, announced the next topic for review in his Goodman Lecture in May saying then that: "We are accountable to Parliament and to the licence fee payers to make sure that the 91Èȱ¬'s editorial systems deliver impartiality.
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"It is something the 91Èȱ¬ can never take for granted.
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"That's why the Governors have commissioned a series of investigations into the impartiality of particular areas of 91Èȱ¬ journalism over the past few years.
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"It's why the Board deliberately targets these investigations at the most sensitive areas of the news agenda."
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Notes to Editors
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1. The terms of reference for the review are:
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"To assess the impartiality of 91Èȱ¬ news and current affairs coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with particular regard to accuracy, fairness, context, balance and bias, actual or perceived."
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2. Members of the Independent Panel:
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Sir Quentin Thomas CB (chairman): President of the British Board of Film Classification and formerly Political Director in the Northern Ireland Office, with other posts in the Cabinet Office and the 91Èȱ¬ Office
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Lord Eames: Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
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Stewart Purvis: former Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive, ITN; Professor of Television Journalism, City University
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Philip Stephens: Associate Editor and Columnist, Financial Times
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Dr Elizabeth Vallance JP: former Head, Department of Politics, Queen Mary College, University of London; Member, Chair of Council, Institute of Education; Committee on Standards in Public Life; Author.
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The terms of reference, together with further information about the methodology of the review and full biographical details of the panel can be found at www.bbcgovernors.co.uk.
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The Independent Panel's report, together with the reports produced by Loughborough University and Opinion Leader Research and written submissions to the panel, will be published in full by the Board of Governors.
