BBC Middle East editor sues Owen Jones for libel at High Court over Gaza article

The article said that the BBC was facing an “internal revolt over its reporting” of the conflict. File Picture: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

An article by journalist Owen Jones about the BBC coverage of the conflict in Gaza has caused the corporation’s Middle East editor to receive death threats, documents in a UK high court libel claim allege.

Raffi Berg, who joined the BBC in 2001 and has been Middle East editor for its news website for 12 years, is suing Jones over an article titled The BBC’s Civil War Over Gaza published on the Drop Site website in December last year.

The claims in the article, which Berg denies, include that BBC staff told Jones that Berg “plays a key role in a wider BBC culture of ‘systematic Israeli propaganda’”.

It also said that staff had told Jones that Berg “reshapes everything from headlines, to story text, to images” and “repeatedly seeks to foreground the Israeli military perspective while stripping away Palestinian humanity”.

In court documents seen by the PA news agency, John Stables, for Berg, said the claims in the article “strike at the claimant’s professional reputation as a journalist and editor”, and had caused Berg to suffer “an onslaught of hatred, intimidation and threats”, including death threats.

Jones said he looked forward to “vigorously defending my reporting”.

The article said that the corporation was facing an “internal revolt over its reporting” of the conflict.

It continued that journalists had claimed that Berg “sets the tone for the BBC’s digital output on Israel and Palestine”, and that complaints from staff about the corporation’s coverage had been “repeatedly brushed aside”.

Jones’ piece also claimed that “facts unfavourable to Israel have been stripped out of Berg’s reports” and that he played a “crucial role” in “conduct that imperils the integrity of the BBC”.

Mr Stables said that following the article’s publication, an online petition was launched calling on the BBC to suspend Berg, who was targeted by protesters at the corporation’s premises in January this year.

The barrister continued that the BBC had since put “workplace security measures” in place for Berg and that police were investigating death threats made towards him.

He said: “The claimant’s reputation has been seriously damaged and he has been caused substantial fear, anxiety, humiliation, upset and distress.” Mr Stables also said that the “upset and harm” allegedly caused to Berg had been “greatly exacerbated” by Jones not apologising or removing the article.

Berg is seeking damages, an injunction preventing Jones from republishing the article, and an order requiring websites to take down the piece.

Jones is yet to file a defence to the claim, but said in a statement: “I strongly disagree with Mr Berg’s claims, and, if necessary, I look forward to vigorously defending my reporting in court.”