Keir Starmer says planing is ‘too localised’ and a Labour government would take a ‘wider’ view
Keir Starmer has said the BBC should explain why it is calling Hamas militants, not terrorists, in its news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Echoing a complaint by Tory MPs, including Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, who told GB News this morning that Hamas represented “pure and simple terrorism” and that other terms did not fully convey this, Starmer told LBC:
The BBC needs to explain why it [is not use the term terrorists] because for most people – I said terrorism and terrorist, and to me that’s obviously what we are witnessing. So I think it’s for the BBC to explain why then not doing it.
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 place the facts before its audience and let them decide what they think, honestly and without ranting. That’s why, in Britain and throughout the world, nearly half a billion people watch, listen to and read us. There’s always someone who would like us to rant. Sorry, it’s not what we do.
The word “terrorist” is not banned, but its use can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should not use the term without attribution.
