Dear friends around the UK,

The BBC is refusing to show a charitable appeal for humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza -- their suffering is too "politically contentious" apparently.

As dozens of MPs, church leaders and journalists are saying, no fair or decent broadcaster should have to block a charitable appeal like this to protect perceptions of its impartiality. It is not taking sides to give food, shelter and medicine to the civilian victims of conflict -- and the Red Cross, Save the Children and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) have an exceptional record of helping such victims impartially.

The BBC is funded by us, the British public, and it says it really cares about keeping our trust and its own reputation for impartiality -- but it risks losing both with this terrible mistake. We've got the email addresses of Director-General Mark Thompson and his colleagues: just follow the link below to send your own message urging the BBC to broadcast the appeal, and forward this email to friends and family -- let's deluge them with tens of thousands of messages this week:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bbc_charitable_appeal

In an interview on the BBC's own Radio 4 Today programme this morning, Mark Thompson was clearly on the defensive, dodging questions from presenter John Humphrys. The number of complaints is being broadcast daily in the media, and this approach has made a big difference in getting the BBC to back down previously. Already over 10,000 complaints have been made -- if we act now and spread the word, we could more than double that by tomorrow.

The BBC's policy says, "Impartiality is an essential part of the BBC's contract with its audience, which owns and funds the BBC. Because of that, the audience itself will often be a factor in determining impartiality" -- in other words, by showing them the strength of support for this charitable humanitarian appeal, we could make them realise their mistake. Even if they refuse, keeping this story in the media through our campaign all week will help many people who were prevented from seeing the appeal to hear about it and donate.

The DEC has answered every question raised about whether and how aid can be delivered. There's a standing public service agreement to broadcast DEC appeals, and commercial terrestrial channels ITV, Channel 4 and Five are all doing so. If the BBC continues to refuse, it will set a terribly dangerous precedent -- implying that civilians in politicised conflicts shouldn't get humanitarian aid, that we have to stand aloof from their suffering to maintain some kind of amoral neutrality.

David Hind, the chief executive of the Charity Commission regulator, said the BBC's refusal would have a direct impact on the money raised, adding: "I can't see how members of the public will confuse a humanitarian appeal for people in desperate need in Gaza with unbalanced reporting."

We're providing links on our website so that you can give a donation yourself, make a phonecall to the BBC or contact your MP about this. But the first step is to send your own message to the BBC now at this link, using our special email tool, and forward this email widely:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bbc_charitable_appeal

With hope,

Paul, Iain, Alice and the whole Avaaz team

(PS: You may want to personalise the message, e.g. to make a stronger point about your license fee.)

Sources:

1. The Guardian: "Clamour for BBC to show Gaza appeal intensifies", 26 January 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/26/bbc-gaza-appeal-mps-motion

2. Mark Thompson interviewed on the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7850000/7850617.stm

3. Disasters Emergency Committee responses to the issues of access and impartiality raised by the BBC are at this link, as well as in the Guardian story above:
http://www.dec.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=320

The DEC's assessment of the situation in Gaza is below:

After an 18 month blockade of Gaza and three weeks of heavy shelling the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now completely overwhelming.

Thousands of people are struggling to survive with many having lost their homes and most down to their last supplies of food and only limited amounts of fresh drinking water.
Just £25 can buy warm blankets for 8 children
Just £50 can provide a food parcel for a family for one month
Electricity - supplies to Gaza are erratic at best with 75% of the area cut off completely. There is a significant public health risk arising out of the almost collapse of Gaza’s water and sewage system, the running of which is dependent on electricity.
Water - Around 500,000 people are without running water with 37% of Gaza’s water wells not working effectively and fuel reserves depleted due to restrictions on access and damage to pipes.
At least 412 Children have been killed and 1,855 injured
60% of the population is living in poverty
1.1 million people are dependent upon aid to survive.
Health - The capacity of the health system has been significantly reduced due to the damage of at least 21 clinics. Ten primary health care clinics are functioning as emergency clinics and hospitals and intensive care units continue to treat the mass casualties.

Please consider donating to the DEC after you have taken action to stop the BBC blocking the broadcast of their appeal at this link:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/bbc_charitable_appeal


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