The BBC has defended its decision to refer to Hamas terrorists as “militants” amid criticism from Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, declaring it is “an editorially independent broadcaster whose job is to explain precisely what is happening ‘on the ground’ so our audiences can make their own judgment.”
Shapps had said the BBC’s behavior was “verging on disgraceful… they’ll always say, well, there’s two sides [but] what Hamas have done, as a proscribed terrorist organisation, meaning that they are illegal in Britain, it’s illegal to support them, is to have gone out and slaughtered innocent people, babies, festival-goers, pensioners.”
“They are not freedom fighters, they are not militants, they are pure and simple terrorists and it’s remarkable to go to the BBC website and still see them talking about gunmen and militants and not calling them terrorists,” he added.
BBC presenter John Simpson, speaking in a personal capacity, spelled out the broadcaster’s position clearly in a post on X (formerly Twitter), claiming “British politicians know perfectly well why the BBC avoids the word ‘terrorist’, and over the years plenty of them have privately agreed with it.”
“Calling someone a terrorist means you’re taking sides and ceasing to treat the situation with due impartiality,” he said, insisting “ranting” is “not what we do.”
The BBC does appear to “take sides” in terms of its language in many other areas, however, referring to groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda as “terrorists”, for example.
BBC partiality is also clear in other areas, with the broadcaster referring to abortion advocates by their preferred “pro-choice” terminology while refusing to refer to pro-life advocates as anything but “anti-abortion,” for example.
Every Briton who watches lives television, even if none of it is BBC content, is forced to fund the broadcaster through a license fee.
British politicians know perfectly well why the BBC avoids the word ‘terrorist’, and over the years plenty of them have privately agreed with it. Calling someone a terrorist means you’re taking sides and ceasing to treat the situation with due impartiality. The BBC’s job is to…
— John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) October 10, 2023
