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Panel Complaints Note 
BACKGROUND 
1. The nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the prominent role of the BBC in its 
reporting are reflected in a sizeable number of complaints about coverage of the 
conflict. 
2. The Panel read BBC complaints logs and analysis on Israeli-Palestinian coverage for 
each month from August 2005 and January 2006. We are grateful to BBC Information, 
the department which handles complaints from the public, for providing this analysis for 
the Panel. 
3. We also examined a few complaints case studies which had reached the Governors’ 
Programme Complaints Committee level to see how they had been handled and 
concluded. 
4. The Panel requested and received a paper from the BBC on the handling of complaints 
on coverage of the conflict1. 
5. The BBC has a complaints website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/ and there are 
various other ways of making a complaint by letter, phone or email. 
6. We were told that written complaints to the BBC should receive a response within 10 
days. However, on a test email, no response was received. 
7. Some people who submitted evidence said the complaints procedure was unsatisfactory 
although many of these referred to the past, sometimes several years ago. Some people 
commented on the recent improvement in the handling of complaints. One or two 
suggested complaints should be handled outside the BBC though it is difficult to see 
how this could be achieved. 
8. The data we have seen on complaints, and how they are handled, underlines the depth 
of feeling and anxiety among the small but significant section of the audience about the 
BBC's perceived deficiencies on this issue. 
FACTS & FIGURES 
9. According to BBC Information, there were around 309,000 complaints and comments 
to the BBC in 2005. 
10. For this Review’s research period, from August 2005 until the end of January 2006, 
there were around 114,000 complaints and comments, 2.5% of which related to 
coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
1 See Appendix F iii 

2 
11. These contacts on the conflict included lobby group activity and some individuals made 
a number of complaints. 
12. We noted that, during the research period, more people said the BBC was biased 
against Israel than against the Palestinians except, interestingly, for the month of 
January 2006 when the trend was reversed. 
. 
The Panel