The BBC has fought off an attempt to force it to publish an internal review of its reporting on the Middle East.

Three appeal judges in London rejected Steven Sugar’s challenge to a High Court ruling that blocked his claim that the report should be made public under the Freedom of Information Act. Mr Sugar, a solicitor from Putney, southwest London, may seek to take his case to the House of Lords.

He contends that the report by a senior editorial adviser, Malcolm Balen, should be published as part of the continuing public debate about alleged BBC bias against Israel.

The information commissioner had agreed with the BBC that it did not have to disclose material held for the purposes of “journalism, art or literature”, and that the Act therefore did not apply in this case.

Mr Sugar then took the issue to the High Court, where Mr Justice Davis also accepted the BBC’s argument that the case fell outside the scope of the Act. That ruling was upheld yesterday by Lords Justices Buxton and Lloyd and Sir Paul Kennedy.

The BBC said that it was vital for independent journalism that debates among its staff about how it covered stories did not have to be opened up to the public gaze.

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