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The Times (London) · Gaza · 27 Sept 2026

The dead are labelled, the other side is not, the headline editorialises, and the legal stakes go unmentioned.

5.2
/ 10 · article score
scored on 4 of 11 measures · thin coverage

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  • Amend the headline to attribute the 'terrorist' characterisation to its named source rather than presenting it in the newspaper's own voice, for example: 'Telegraph accuses BBC of bias for calling dead Gaza media workers journalists rather than terrorists'.
  • Add a verification caveat in the body of the article, adjacent to each use of 'terrorists' as a descriptor for the named individuals, noting that no judicial or proscription finding is cited in support of that label.
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Headline analysisVictim affiliation labels

BBC accused of bias for calling dead terrorists ‘journalists’

The BBC has been accused of bias after describing dead Hamas fighters and other terrorist group affiliates as journalists in its coverage. The broadcaster has named 53 such individuals as journalists, including some who launched the October 7 attacks, The Telegraph reported. The majority appeared on BBC Arabic, which has faced allegations of antisemitism and an “anti-Israel bias”, including in a leaked dossier that contributed to the resignation of its director-general and its head of news. Most commented 1 211,000 small-boat arrivals in eight years: where are they now? Columnists 243 comments 2 Jeremy Clarkson: Stop climbing Everest and do something useful Columnists 353 comments 3 No great leader got anywhere by being ‘nice’ Columnists 204 comments 4 Morten Morland’s Sunday Times cartoon: September 27, 2026 Cartoons 78 comments 5 Stephen Graham on family, fashion and making it in Hollywood Celebrity 156 comments Many of the names appear in the BBC Arabic website’s lists of more than 180 so-called journalists who “paid with their lives for reporting the truth”. Of those names, almost a third have links to terrorist organisations, the majority of which appeared on the Arabic service, according to The Telegraph. Top stories 1 Iran ‘will wait for mediators’ after Trump rejects peace proposal US news 2 ‘I was scared I’d be burnt alive’: In Ukraine’s fortress belt where Russians hunt civilians Russia-Ukraine war 3 Crackling joy: could crispy pork become Spain’s hottest bar snack? Europe 4 Should you pay £500 for a shingles jab? Health & Fitness 5 Where’s hot in January? 15 of the best places for sun to get the year started Inspiration Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC television, told the newspaper it was a “scandal of inaccuracy and anti-Israel bias” and “simply not good enough”. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-profit American organisation, last week said it had established that some “journalists” had engaged in combat. After a review held in June 2026, the group said it had removed 22 press members, naming 19 who it said had been involved in combat. They were in addition to eight who were removed, for the same reason, from 2023 to April 2025. Advertisement Abdullah Darwish, for example, was an Al-Aqsa TV cameraman who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on December 1, 2023, according to a BBC Arabic report. Numerous publications have reported him as having been a journalist. He has since been removed from the CPJ’s list of killed journalists. He was a member of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s primary armed military wing, according to The Telegraph. Top stories 1 Six unbeatable Cruise Month deals to book with Times Holidays now Promoted content Rizq Abu Shakian was listed by BBC Arabic as a journalist at Palestine Now but was also removed from the CPJ’s list. He had appeared in an online video wearing Hamas military fatigues and holding an automatic rifle, The Telegraph reported. Abdullah Iyad Breis was said to have been described as a “knight” by Hamas and has been pictured wearing military fatigues and an automatic rifle. A BBC Arabic article listed him as a journalist at the Rawafed Educational Channel who was killed on January 8, 2024. A BBC spokesperson said: “This BBC Arabic report was last updated in August 2025 and covers the deaths of journalists over the course of the conflict, in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel, regardless of their media outlet’s political affiliations. “The story was based on the information available at the time it was published. In light of the CPJ’s June 2026 update, we are looking at those included in the piece, and in our wider reporting as relevant.” Advertisement Daily Briefing newsletter Get our top stories and exclusive analysis sent straight to your inbox every morning. Sign up with one click You’ve successfully signed up to the Daily Briefing newsletter Explore our newsletters An error occurred. Please use the link below. Daily Briefing newsletter Explore our newsletters BBC Arabic operates from Broadcasting House in central London but employs staff around the world. In November last year, some of its staff members were accused of antisemitism, anti-Israel bias and celebrating the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel . A leaked internal BBC memo accused the BBC of “painting Israel as the aggressor” during the war in Gaza. The memo featured as part of a leaked dossier, compiled by the BBC’s former external adviser Michael Prescott, which also highlighted misleading editing of a President Trump speech . It led to the resignations of Tim Davie, the director-general, and Deborah Turness, the head of news. In 2025 the BBC was also forced to withdraw its documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone after it emerged that the child fronting the programme was the son of a high-ranking Hamas official . However, the broadcaster has also been consistently accused by others of holding a pro-Israel bias. A freedom of information request submitted by the website Declassified UK found that the BBC’s executive committee had met nine times with Jewish community groups and only once with a pro-Palestinian organisation during the first 14 months of the Gaza-Israel conflict. Analysis by NewsCord, the UK media bias comparison app, has accused the BBC of consistently using language that obscures Israeli culpability for deaths in Gaza, including by using the passive voice.

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