BBC Watch

bbcwatch was an organisation set up to pressurise the BBC into producing news coverage more favourable to Israel. It was owned and run by Trevor Asserson, an English solicitor now based in Israel. According to The Lawyer his Jerusalam based law firm Asserson Law is the first UK law firm based in another country.

According to its own account bbcwatch was established in 2000, but it did not produce its first report until March 2002. It was incorporated as a UK limited company in February 2004 and dissolved in November 2007. According to its only accounts filed the issue of shares to Trevor Asserson was the company's only transaction.

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'.