The BBC couldn’t have… Surely not…
JVL Introduction
A note squirrelled away in “Comments and Clarifications” on the BBC website last month reveals how editing of an interview in the Panorama documentary Is Labour Antisemitic? broadcast in July 2019 made the Labour left appear responsible for an example of far right antisemitic abuse.
In the Canary story below, Steve Topple explores the questions this raises “about the programme – and about the broadcaster more broadly.”
A number of these questions are posed directly in an Open Letter to BBC Director-General Tim Davie which licence-fee payers can sign here.
This article was originally published by Canary Workers' Co-op on Thu 5 Jan 2023. Read the original here.
BBC opens a can of worms for itself over anti-Corbyn Panorama doc
The BBC has made an admission about its controversial Panorama documentary about antisemitism in the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn. It has released what it says is further “context” to a member’s claims in the programme about abuse within the party. However, the BBC‘s disclosure prompts further questions about the programme – and about the broadcaster more broadly.
BBC Panorama: an admission
The Canary previously reported on BBC Panorama‘s Is Labour Anti-Semitic? documentary. The BBC broadcast the programme on 10 July 2019. As the Canary‘s Joshua Funnell wrote nine days later, one of Panorama‘s claims about allegations of antisemitism in the party already appeared at that point to be incorrect. Now, the BBC has made a further admission.
As SKWAWKBOX reported, the BBC has admitted it failed to apply context to comments made by one participant in the Panorama documentary. It made the admission on the Corrections and Clarifications page of its website on 14 December 2022.
The BBC noted that Panorama showed a participant making the following comments:
I’m Izzy Lenga, I joined the Labour Party in 2015… The antisemitic abuse I received was what I was subjected to every single day… Telling me Hitler was right, telling me Hitler did not go far enough…
In Labour Party meetings… we’ve seen people engage in Holocaust denial… and that’s terrifying for Jewish members… It absolutely breaks my heart to say but I do not think the Labour Party is a safe space for Jewish people any more.
You can watch Lenga’s comments from 8:11 below:
Panorama presented the implication from Lenga’s statement as being that during her time in the Labour Party, people “subjected” her to “antisemitic abuse” “every single day” – including “telling” her “Hitler was right”. We now know this was not true.
Decontextualising Lenga’s comments
The BBC has admitted that it cut what Lenga said. It noted that if it was to “re-broadcast” the Panorama documentary now, it would include the following from Lenga’s testimony:
I’m Izzy Lenga, I joined the Labour Party in 2015… When I was a student… being quite a high profile Jewish woman student, I was subjected to quite a lot of like nasty vitriol and abuse… The antisemitic abuse I received… was what I was subjected to every single day… Predictably a lot of it came from the far right… neo-Nazi abuse… telling me Hitler was right, telling me Hitler did not go far enough and even more… What absolutely baffled me, was at the same time, I was receiving… very similar and almost often the exact same tropes and anti-Semitic abuse… from the far left.
Lenga was discussing her time on her university campus – not her time as a Labour Party member. This is something Al Jazeera‘s Labour Files series had previously claimed. When referencing “Hitler was right”, Lenga was talking about her experiences as a student in 2015.
She was giving the example of people putting up posters with those words on them around her campus. However, the point is it had nothing to do with the Labour Party. The BBC has claimed Panorama did not alter the second part of Lenga’s statement surrounding Holocaust denial in Labour Party meetings.
The BBC says…
The Canary asked the BBC for comment. We specifically wanted to know why Panorama chose to edit Lenga’s comments in the way it did. A BBC spokesperson told the Canary:
Following a recent discussion about any potential re-use of the programme it was decided that, if the programme were to be re-broadcast, we would include some additional comments from Ms Lenga’s original interview to give viewers further context around her experiences. We have published these on our clarifications page in the interests of full transparency.
The Labour Party says…
The Panorama programme was presented by John Ware. As Press Gazette reported:
In July 2020, [the] Labour [Party] apologised and agreed to pay “substantial damages” to Ware after it falsely accused him of “deliberate and malicious misrepresentations designed to mislead the public”.
The Canary asked the Labour Party for comment, specifically regarding whether, in light of the BBC‘s admission of the cutting of context from Lenga’s interview, the party still stands by its retraction and damages pay-out to Ware. The party had not responded at the time of publication.
John Ware says…
Meanwhile, on 15 December 2022, Ware commented on Lenga’s antisemitic “experience[s] on campus”. This was in an article about Al Jazeera‘s Labour Files for Jewish News. He also discussed Panorama‘s editing of her comments. Ware said that:
At times, she was subjected daily to antisemitic abuse (on and offline) that included comments like “Hitler was right” and “Hitler didn’t go far enough” as well as Holocaust denial “with absolutely no sanctions and absolutely no repercussions”.
Lenga’s Hitler comments referred to attacks from the right when they were targeting her on campus. However, she also recounted Holocaust denial as a feature of abusive comments from the left.
As Lenga explained, the attacks from both left and right were “very similar… and almost often the exact same tropes”. Through no fault of her own, the fact they were similar meant these comments became mixed up in the editing and we should have made that distinction – Hitler from the Right and Holocaust denial from the Left – clearer.
Ware’s recollection of Lenga’s comments, though, is not exactly the same as what the BBC claimed she said in its 14 December 2022 correction. Ware continued:
A relatively minor slip, yet Corbynites have banged on and on about this, as if it invalidates the entire 59 minutes of Panorama. Presumably Al Jazeera knew that the Holocaust denial like that experienced by Lenga from the Left has led to expulsions of Labour members for neo-Nazi views. The antisemitism logs seen by Al Jazeera contain meticulous notes on such cases.
Poor journalism or intentional manipulation?
SKWAWKBOX called the BBC‘s actions “grossly-misleading edits“. Moreover, former Labour councillor John Edwards said on Twitter:
Frighteningly, during the process of a general election @BBCPanorama broadcast significant lies which coincided with Tory government propaganda. Just think about that.
Labour Files producer Richard Sanders wrote for Byline Times that:
The Izzy Lenga story is so astonishing that it ought surely to have set alarm bells ringing at the BBC for anyone with even the remotest familiarity with the internal culture of the Labour Party. It certainly did with a number of viewers.
The BBC‘s admission also begs the question: what, if any, context did Panorama remove from other participants’ comments, in addition to Lenga’s?
At best, Panorama‘s editorial decision was a poor piece of journalism – and at worst it may have been an intentional misrepresentation of Lenga’s comments, in an attempt to manipulate the viewer. Either way, the broadcaster’s admission only strengthens the argument that the BBC is not fit for its stated purpose of rigorous, unbiased, public service broadcasting.
Featured image via Peoples War – YouTube
Lenga’s claim that “we’ve seen people engage in Holocaust denial” (who is ‘we’?) in Labour Party meetings is so obviously far fetched that it had to be stood up with facts…
As for her receiving neo-Nazi tropes from the far left, likewise. In my experience, neo-Nazi type stuff comes from neo-Nazis…
What we know is that the ‘new antisemitism’ is about anti-Zionism and not this crude and mostly fabricated hate speech attributed to Labour and the left, except in very few cases by people who obviously disqualify themselves from being on the left.
New antisemitism is the subject of Tony Lerman’s latest book, and Dave Rich, who is featured in the Panorama, also says in other outlets that the problem is with the older generation of anti-Zionist Jews – which is no doubt why they hate JVL!
These claims of frequent or daily antisemitic abuse during Labour Party meetings were given by JLM officers on this Panorama programme. Yet the Leaked Labour report indicates that of 1201 complaints between 2016 and 2019 only an estimated 50 concerned meetings.
Given there are around 20000 Labour meetings each year, this 50 does not support claims of a widespread problem, let alone daily events or an unsafe space.
It rather supports as more representative the published experiences of other Jewish members who wrote of antisemitic comments that were very very rare indeed.
This BBC edit, alongside the choice of only anti-Corbyn witnesses, just before a General Election, should really lead to a full and detailed external inquiry.
The case about Izzy Lenga , was not the only interview that was incorrect . The two lovely ladies who were spoken about incorrectly as asking , “Where do you com from ? As if they were asking , “Where in Israel ” ? They recorded the interview , and had asked . what branch / Town was he from . So much was wrong with it all .
For me, it can only have been intentional to omit the ‘When I was a student’ context, thereby leaving the gentle viewer believing all this was happening in the Labour Party.
The further obfuscation, focussing on that the BBC should have made the distinction clearer between hard left and hard right tropes only serves to show the BBC even now is not willingly admitting fault and trying to put things right.
“These comments became mixed up in the editing” is how John Ware explains the conflation of Neo-Nazis with the Labour Party in this section of the programme. This in his piece for Jewish News. Hmm. Who mixed them up? Why did they mix them up? The passive is used to avoid attributing responsibility … and motive. He continues: “A relatively minor slip, yet Corbynites have banged on and on about this, as if it invalidates the entire 59 minutes of Panorama.” Yes his programme should be judged in the round. When I first watched it, I thought it was convincing. I worked for Panorama as an assistant producer where I met John Ware. He won’t remember me. But I liked him. We shared a joke about the Royal Family. Also working at Panorama at the time was Clive Edwards, as deputy editor. Clive and I both moved to the BBC Money Programme, he as editor, and me, eventually, as a producer. I remember Clive rebuking me for editing a Money Programme interviewee’s comment to change it’s meaning. Clive’s integrity stuck with me. I formed the strong opinion that we should never leave an Achilles heel in our work. To do so undermines the credibility of the whole project – whatever Ware’s plea to be judged in the round. A tiny bit of bacteria on the plate will poison the meal. But there’s a bigger issue – illustrated by the Rica Bird/Ben Westerman episode. Ware insists: “The tape appears to end abruptly … as Westerman is in mid-sentence, so it is not definitive that the Israel question was not asked.” Nor is it definitive that the question was asked. There is doubt. Ware and Westerman’s case is unproven. Shouldn’t the onus be on the accusers to prove the allegation? And it’s no defence for a journalist simply to say – I was only quoting someone else. If you broadcast a mistruth, it’s still a mistruth. I first entered the profession as a green young cub reporter on a local paper. A highly competent senior colleague gave me some friendly advice: “When in doubt, leave out.” Bear that in mind should the programme ever be rebroadcast.
Ware is wrong – together with the concealing of the extreme partisan views and affiliations of those presented as representative of the LP membership, and total failure to question those ‘representatives’ – even uncritically – this does invalidate the BBC libellous programme. What precisely were the alleged ‘holocaust denials’? made by whom? in what context? This was not journalism even of the lowest sort.
“However, she also recounted Holocaust denial as a feature of abusive comments from the left.”
Or, possibly, people pretending to be on the left. She may not have known who these people really were if they were made online.
Here is another example of BBC propaganda:
“The BBC said the use of 2016 footage was a production error and the organisation apologised.”
https://fullfact.org/online/boris-johnson-remembrance-wreath/
I am almost certainly correct in thinking that no Jewish supporters of Corbyn were allowed to appear. In fact, no non-Jewish supporter of Corbyn either as I recall.
Lenga was elected as Treasurer at our Branch AGM and was never seen at a branch meeting again and infrequently at All Members Meetings. The Holocaust denier smear was spread about a well regarded left wing activist by a number of the JLM and was totally fabricated.
A number of comrades commenting here and elsewhere have referred to the Panorama programme on July 19, 2019 as being broadcast just before, or in the run-up to, a general election. In fact Theresa May left office on July 24 and the GE was not announced until several months later (Parliament was dissolved on November 6). Panorama was clearly an attempt to destroy Corbyn and prevent Labour winning an election under his leadership, but we should avoid talking as if there was a GE campaign going on at the time.
PS And I’m increasingly beginning to wonder if the Hitler poster episode was all a set up by the Israel lobby to kick-start her ‘career’ and endear her to Jewish students and many other people.
Perhaps that’s why the Daily Mail included the second of these:
She was immediately targeted by online trolls, with one writing: ‘Another oven magnet crying about a piece of paper again?’
Another added: ‘I bet you put this up yourself, you just want more victim points.’
These people can’t resist dropping hints and clues. It greatly amuses them to do so, knowing that only ‘insiders’ will get it.
Anything and everything seems to be a trope.
If you disagree with anyone its “gaslighting”.
And in case you didn’t see it (I only came across it because I went on JNs website to do a search in respect of Izzy Lenga (and found some v interesting articles)):
Lansman: ‘Antisemitism and factionalism’ to blame for ‘most traumatic years of my life’
Momentum founder Jon Lansman tells Jewish Labour Movement conference at JW3 Jeremy Corbyn has failed to accept it is ‘possible to be “an anti-racist but still have racist prejudice.’
Lansman praised JLM saying they “did not act factionally” during this period.
Yep, that’s Honest Jon for you.
https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/lansman-antisemitism-and-factionalism-to-blame-for-most-traumatic-years-of-my-life/
But I mainly wanted to post this given that it’s from over three years ago, and quite a few people who follow JVL now may not have seen it:
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/fifty-times-jeremy-corbyn-stood-with-jewish-people/
There were also two programmes We Are British Jews, which took as a premise that Corbyn was an anti-Semite. And were broadcast before the Panorama programme in 2018. So three anti-Corbyn programmes commissioned and broadcast by the state broadcaster.