How Much Will the BBC Pay Out to Avoid Discussing Its Antisemitism Problem?
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by Simon Plosker
The BBC logo is seen at the entrance at Broadcasting House, the BBC headquarters in central London. Photo by Vuk Valcic / SOPA Images/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Back in 2012, the BBC incurred nearly £330,000 in legal costs to prevent the publication of its 2004 Balen Report on its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That report has never been made public.
You can now add another £400,000 (approx. $534,000) to the BBC’s ledger. Because that’s what it has paid out to award-winning documentary filmmaker Lucie Kon for wrongful dismissal. But no surprise that part of the agreement involved not admitting fault or apologizing over Kon’s claims that she was subjected to antisemitic bullying in the workplace in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre.
Lucie Kon, whose work for the BBC won awards including an Oscar and an Emmy, says she was victimized in the wake of the Oct 7. terrorist attacks in Israel by colleagues who said Zionists such as her were “evil.”
Ms. Kon, who has family in Israel, claims she was told that “if you want to call Hamas terrorists then you have to call Israel terrorists, too” and that she should “think about what drove Hamas to do what they did.”
When she made a formal complaint about her treatment, the BBC told Ms. Kon to stay at home for months, sidelined her, and eventually put her out of work.
She instigated unfair dismissal proceedings against the BBC, which agreed to pay her substantial compensation – partly funded by the licence fee – without any admission of liability. It has refused to apologise or admit she was a victim of antisemitism.
…
She told The Telegraph: “I think I became a problem. I think I made too much noise about being a Jew inside the BBC. I stood up for my community. I was open about being a Zionist.”
“The BBC says, bring your authentic self to work. And I did. And I lost my job as a result.”
As usual, the BBC has reverted to its default setting when it comes to Israel and Jews: avoid apologizing or admitting fault at all costs.
Well done to Lucie Kon for apparently avoiding a non-disclosure agreement and bringing her experience to the public’s attention.
The author is the Editorial Director of HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
