BBC Watch

bbcwatch was an organisation set up to pressurise the BBC into producing news coverage more favourable to Israel. The main figure behind the group is Trevor Asserson, an English solicitor based in Israel. According to The Lawyer his Jerusalam based law firm Asserson Law is the first UK law firm based in another country.

bbcwatch produced a number of reports detailing BBC output and incidents or trends evidencing a perceived bias. For example the organisation's first report, entitled 'The BBC and the Middle East - a Critical Study', argued amongst other things that the BBC should use the perjorative term 'terrorism' to describe Hamas; that the West Bank and Gaza should not be described as ‘occupied Palestinian Land’ or ‘occupied Palestinian territories’ since it suggests that there previously existed an 'autonomous sovereign Palestinian territory'; that Yasser Arafat should not be described as President or Presidential; and that the illegal settlements in the West Bank and Gaza should not be described as being 'illeged' but instead referred to as settlements in 'disputed territories'.