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(JNS) BBC Director-General Tim Davie repeatedly rejected offers of training on antisemitism, the British government’s official adviser on anti-Jewish discrimination revealed in an interview with The Telegraph this week.
Lord John Mann, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s independent adviser on antisemitism, told the newspaper he visited the BBC‘s senior leadership to offer training on three occasions since taking up the role in 2019.
“Heads should roll,” Mann said of recent antisemitism scandals at the broadcaster. “And the heads that roll shouldn’t just be the little heads.
“Someone at the top should carry the can. It’s not acceptable and I’ve been in there several times, I’ve offered them training, they’ve never accepted it. I think there’s often an arrogance there,” he continued.
“Tim Davie and others who I’ve met, they’ve had those offers,” said Mann. “I challenge and question why they have not accepted it.”
Mann’s call for Davie to resign from his position came weeks after the U.K. broadcaster issued an apology for “serious flaws” in a documentary about the Gaza Strip it broadcasted featuring the son of a Hamas official.
The controversy over the movie, which has been taken off the air, prompted a rare government intervention, with “consequences” expected for the network, a BBC insider told The Sunday Times.
The apology centered on the fact that the film’s narrator was the son of a minister in the Hamas government. The producers knew this but didn’t inform the BBC, which then failed because it “did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired,” according to the Feb. 27 statement.
In 2024, a team of some 20 attorneys and 20 data scientists led by Trevor Asserson discovered about 1,500 breaches of the BBC‘s own editorial guidelines in its coverage of the war with Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023.
The BBC has repeatedly downplayed Hamas terrorism while presenting Israel as a militaristic and aggressive nation, the team reported.
Responding to Lord Mann’s allegations on Saturday, a BBC spokesman told The Telegraph: “As an organisation, the BBC stands united against any form of abuse, prejudice, or intolerance.”
He continued, “The welfare of our staff is paramount, and as such we have strengthened the range of training and support available to all of the organisation’s employees and communities in the past 18 months.
“We have well-established and robust processes in place to handle any issues, concerns or complaints raised with us,” the statement added.
