The BBC’s case for not showing the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Gaza appeal is based on its duty – especially in its international broadcasting guises – to report without partiality. Given the great value of their international services in providing unslanted news they do have a case in protecting their reputation for this, unpalatable though it seems in this instance. In practical terms, of course, their refusal to air the appeal has hugely heightened the public’s awareness of it and will increase the response to the appeals put out by the non-public broadcast channels. Much more sinister is the reason Sky News refused to air it. News Corp is dependent on the goodwill of US Bankers, which requires submission to the US Jewish lobby. We can only hope that President Obama has more courage than Mr Murdoch when it comes to confronting this powerful group.

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BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour last Saturday featured a short debate between Conservative MP Nick Herbert and Alfred (Lord) Dubbs about the use of Cl.8 of the Human Rights Act in recent privacy cases. Herbert, like Mail editor Paul Dacre, argues that Parliament, not judges should be making any new laws on invasion of privacy.

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I think it likely that somewhere within its charter, the BBC is required to deliver news bulletins that are factual and impartial.

Nevertheless, Adam Parsons, signing off his report for Radio 4 Six O’Clock News on yesterday’s [10/7] events at the Mosley v. Screws case, opined that the case might yet set a precedent “ .. in the way high profile individuals are allowed to go about protecting their privacy,” as if this were an unsavoury ambition that applied only to the rich.

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