Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, Israel’s war in Gaza and escalating regional tensions with Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran have dominated global headlines.
At the heart of the international media response is the BBC, long seen as the authoritative voice of British journalism. But its coverage has sparked fierce backlash, with critics accusing the broadcaster of bias against Israel and even fuelling antisemitism. In early 2025, the BBC admitted to airing a documentary narrated by the son of a Hamas official. By June, the White House publicly criticised the BBC for accepting “Hamas’s word as total truth.”
So how does a BBC journalist of Jewish faith navigate this landscape?
In this wide-ranging and deeply personal interview, Tim Franks, longtime presenter on the BBC World Service and former Middle East correspondent, joins Tom Switzer at the Centre for Independent Studies to discuss the clash between professional impartiality and personal identity.
The Lines We Draw: The Journalist, the Jew and an Argument About Identity — Available now from Bloomsbury.