The Director General of the BBC has rebuffed a request from the Government to reconsider its decision not to broadcast a charity appeal for the aid effort in Gaza.

In a letter to Douglas Alexander sent this evening, Mark Thompson, the head of the corporation, said that even if it was possible to deliver aid to Gaza, the BBC would not transmit an appeal from the Disasters & Emergency Committee (DEC) because to do so would tarnish the broadcaster’s attempts to remain impartial in the conflict.

Mr Alexander wrote to chiefs of broadcasters this morning expressing his disappointment that no television appeal will appear, saying the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “dire”.

He also took issue with the BBC over claims that aid may not get through to the victims due to the volatile situation in Gaza and said he has evidence that several British charities definitely got aid into Gaza yesterday, adding that the excuse does not stand up to scrutiny.

But in his response, Mr Thompson said whatever the prospects of successful delivery of aid, the BBC considered that broadcasting an appeal “ran the risk of calling into question the public’s confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in its coverage of the story as a whole”.

He wrote: “This is because Gaza remains an ongoing and highly controversial news story within which the human suffering and distress which have resulted from the conflict remain intrinsic and contentious elements.

“We have and will continue to cover the human side of the conflict fully across our news programmes and services. Within these bulletins and services, we can put the events in their wider context and draw attention to the claims and counter-claims that are made about them by the parties to the conflict and by others.”

The director general said that he had consulted with senior news editors but “no matter how carefully couched” an appeal may be, “we cannot however broadcast anything which we believe might compromise the impartiality of the BBC’s journalism”.

The DEC, which is made up of the 12 biggest aid charities, including the British Red Cross and Save the Children, co-ordinates fundraising during international emergencies to maximise the impact of their efforts.

The decision to broadcast an appeal, given as free airtime, is made by a consensus between the BBC, ITV and Sky. Sky said yesterday that the BBC’s refusal to broadcast meant that whatever its stance it could not transmit the appeal without the BBC taking part.

The BBC is highly sensitive about its coverage of the Middle East, which Israel has alleged to have shown pro-Palestinian bias. The corporation has even held an inquiry into its own coverage.

The corporation feels wounded by the hostility it has faced over its decision. Senior staff feel that they would have been pilloried by the Right had they broadcast an appeal, and are now attacked by the Left for their decision not to do so.

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