Ofcom raps Press TV's Palestine special

Ofcom has ruled that a current affairs programme on the recent attack on an aid flotilla bound for Palestine breached the broadcasting code by failing to maintain due impartiality.

The programme, titled Remember Palestine, was presented by Cherie Blair's sister Lauren Booth on Press TV, which is a news network controlled by the Iranian government.

Aired on June 5, the programme featured Booth discussing the events of May 31 when an Israeli military force boarded a pro-Palestinian aid convoy, resulting in nine people being killed.

According to Ofcom, the programme began with a pro-Palestinian song and featured anti-Israeli imagery and comment throughout, including interviewees referring to a "massacre" and a "barbarous attack" on the flotilla. Another contributor referred to Israel as being "a state above the law".

After being asked for comments by Ofcom, Press TV said that "the intensity of the descriptions in the programme merely reflected the general atmosphere around the world".

The broadcaster also said that the comment about Israel being "above the law" was in fact a "viewpoint shared by a large number of people and by many officials around the world".

In its ruling, Ofcom warned broadcasters that their right to freedom of expression is "not absolute", as they must also maintain due impartiality to the subjects being covered.

The watchdog judged that all the contributors on Remember Palestine "could reasonably be characterised as being from a pro-Palestinian viewpoint", meaning that the programme failed to maintain due impartiality.

"We considered that the programme did not contain any alternative views, which could be reasonably and adequately classed as supportive of, or which sought to explain, the actions of the Israeli military forces in relation to the aid convoy, or of the Israeli state more generally," said Ofcom.

"Overall the programme gave a one-sided view on this matter of political controversy."