By Reginald Johnson
Commentary
In the past few years, I've watched quite a bit of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Their international news coverage, particularly compared to American channels, is very good.
I've been impressed, for instance, by BBC reporting on Gaza and Lebanon, where Israel has been waging genocidal military campaigns killing tens of thousands of civilians. The BBC has often had reporters on the ground, describing the destruction after Israeli strikes and talking with Palestinians or Lebanese survivors.
There is no other news network that is doing this, that I'm aware of. The US networks have done very little reporting of substance on the carnage in Gaza and Lebanon, and in many cases reports are skewed heavily to the Israeli point of view (see FOX and Newsmax).
BBC has also done a solid job covering the Iran War and the fighting in Yemen.
But --- but --- the BBC's coverage of another theatre of conflict --- Ukraine --- is a totally different story.
BBC's reports on the Ukraine-Russia War are hopelessly one-sided, with the Ukrainian point of view or the NATO perspective being presented almost exclusively. This is propaganda.
After Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities, BBC correspondents are frequently there, talking with witnesses and survivors as they should be. Sometimes apartment buildings have been hit and there are fatalities and many people injured.
Civilian targets should not be hit in times of war and the BBC is right to show extensive video footage of the destruction and talk with anyone impacted. But there should be some effort to get comment from the Russian side, and there never is.
Why was a residential building struck? Are the Russians taking responsibility? Was it a mistake? Are they saying there were military targets in the building? These are questions that should be asked but are not.
Meanwhile, BBC offers only skimpy reporting when it comes to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.
The Ukrainian bombing of the Blueberry company warehouses, for instance, was reported, but I saw no eyewitnesses or survivors being interviewed. Nor was there any effort to speak with Russian officials.
When a Russian tour bus was struck by a Ukrainian drone in June and 8 people killed, BBC did report this, but I saw no effort by the station to get comment from survivors or get a response from Russian officials, even though the strike constitutes a war crime.
Presenters on the BBC sometimes show an open bias in favor of Ukraine and against Russia. Recently I heard presenter Lucy Hockings describe Russian drone attacks on Odessa as "Russian terror strikes."
It's funny, because I never heard any BBC presenter describe Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia as "Ukrainian terror strikes." If Russians were interviewed, they might well describe the bombings as "terror strikes."
Another area of coverage where the BBC --- as well as other stations --- show favoritism towards Ukraine concerns the issue of drone missiles landing outside the borders of Ukraine or Russia.
There have been a number of incidents where drones have landed in nearby countries like Poland, Romania, the Baltic countries, Germany or in the Black Sea. Sometimes damage is caused. Officials in those countries, who are NATO members, invariably point the finger at Russia as being the likely culprit without citing much evidence.
A prime example of this was in August when German officials reported there had been incidents involving drones at Leipzig Airport.
German officials said that one explosives-laden drone hit a Ukrainian cargo plane but failed to detonate due to a faulty detonator. Another drone collided with a plane circling the airport after it was closed due to the other incident.
Within days German intelligence officials said they suspected the Russians were responsible for the drone hits. A few weeks later the German government said an investigation concluded the Russians were definitely responsible, because of what they said were tell-tale markings found on the damaged drones.
Officials said the drone attacks were part of a Russian campaign of hybrid warfare and sabotage against Europe.
The BBC reported extensively on the drone incidents and cited the German finding. The station did report that the Russians denied responsibility for the attacks, but beyond that did nothing to get the other side. There were no interviews with Russian officials.
In general, whenever the BBC presents an analysis on the progress of the Ukraine war, the station always seeks out supporters of Ukraine such as members of the Ukrainian parliament, NATO officials, pro-war representatives of the US Congress, officials of the pro-war US think tank the Atlantic Council, and others such as former US Ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor.
No Russian officials are sought out, nor are members of US peace groups, some of whom have criticized the war.
Recently BBC has given extensive airtime to critics of President Donald Trump's decision to relax sanctions on Russia and buy Russian diesel fuel. Trump said the purchase will help ease high diesel prices in the US.
Critics, including Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and members of Congress, claim the move gives Russian leader Vladimir Putin a lifeline and undermines Ukraine in the war effort.
Again, I haven't seen the BBC interviewing any Russians or anyone who supports the move.
Last week BBC brought on former deputy head of NATO Robert Sheriff who denounced Trump saying he was "siding with Putin" and implied he was a traitor.
Overall the BBC's coverage of the Ukraine-Russia War amounts to a giant public relations campaign on behalf of Ukraine and its NATO allies. It is deeply unprofessional and unjournalistic.
The coverage, so-called, helps fuel the narrative that Russia is bent on mercilessly crushing Ukraine and represents a danger to the rest of Europe.
In so doing, it provides the justification for continuing the war and providing more arms for Ukraine.
