Peer complains to BBC over ‘biased’ reporting of Bristol professor’s sacking
Crossbench peer Ruth Deech has formally complained to the BBC after claiming its reporting on the firing of an academic was “inaccurate”.
She said the national broadcaster’s reporting suggested that University of Bristol Professor, David Miller, had been sacked for his opinions on Israel.
Dr Miller, a sociology professor, was removed from his post by the university earlier this month.
This concludes a disciplinary process sparked after he accused the student Jewish Society of being “pawns” of a “violent, racist foreign regime,” and called for an “end to Zionism” in February this year.
The BBC implied in a headline that Miller had been dismissed “over Israel comments”.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by Jewish News, Baroness Deech said: “The headlines that the BBC and other press gave the incident are almost as damaging.
“The BBC reported it as ‘Professor sacked for talking about Israel’. Now that’s very inaccurate and biased because it gives the impression that you can’t talk about Israel and that free speech is under attack.
“And that’s simply not what he was dismissed for, even by the university’s own standards.”
Baroness Deech has campaigned extensively against antisemitism, and in 2016 she argued that British universities were becoming increasingly hostile environments for Jewish students.
