Following BBC Newsnight's shameful coverage of the situation in Aleppo on 24 May (for which Rethink Rebuild Society assisted them in finding people on the ground to interview), and following its failure to address our concerns through a joint letter submitted on behalf of ten UK-based Syrian organisations, we issued a formal complaint on 2 June to expose their shameful practices and biased coverage.
Activists within Aleppo who were interviewed for this piece have also submitted a letter to Newsnight detailing their concerns regarding how the issue was dealt with.
We have since followed up this complaint with a press release.
We need your help to escalate this issue and to ensure fair reporting practices when covering the Syrian conflict:
Submit a letter of complaint to the BBC
Tweet to them: @BBCNewsnight
Tag them on Facebook: BBC Newsnight
Talking points:
1. The piece on Aleppo aired on 24 May between the minutes of 23-28 was confusing and potentially misleading
2. The opening quote by presenter Emily Maitlis provided misleading information which framed the entire clip in a misleading way.
3. We are told that ‘people of Aleppo are preparing themselves for siege’, although we do not know who will be besieging them?
4. We are not told who the 'insurgent fighters' are. Are they Daesh? Al-Nusra? Free Syrian army? (Bearing in mind that Russia classifies any group opposed to Assad as a terrorist group).
5. The piece mentions that the Syrian ceasefire has come under ‘renewed threat’ because of the actions of Daesh and al-Nusra, without mentioning the Assad regime which has done the most to undermine the ceasefire.
6. The notion that Aleppo was ‘once a major stronghold of terrorists’ has been flatly rejected by activists both inside and outside of Syria.
7. The voice of the moderate opposition is lost. Rather, it seems that there are only two factions in Aleppo, namely the Assad regime and Daesh/al-Nusra.
