The BBC has reportedly dropped coverage of an event bringing together Palestinian and British children through poetry, citing concerns over "impartiality" as the corporation continues to face allegations of pro-Israel bias in its reporting of the Gaza genocide.
Speaking to The Canary, Nick Bilbrough, coordinator of the Hands Up educational charity, said the BBC told him the piece would be "challenging" to broadcast because producers had believed they would need to add "significantly more context to ensure due impartiality", even though the footage focused on children, creativity and shared artistic expression.
Bilbrough said none of the interviews touched on politics.
"I wasn't talking about anything political, nor was the teacher. We were all just talking about the value of writing poetry in a difficult situation, and how inspirational the poems are," he told The Canary.
Although the BBC reporter initially indicated the story could still appear on the local programme Spotlight, weeks passed with no update, and editors eventually shelved the piece altogether.
Despite media monitoring organisations finding that the BBC is systematically biased towards Israel in its reporting, the British public broadcaster has faced increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups over programmes which offer limited criticism of Israel or portray Palestinians sympathetically.
The Hands Up Project links Palestinian children with peers around the world, and its early-2025 poetry event brought together British and Palestinian students. Dartington Primary School had agreed to host the exhibition as a cultural event, and local BBC journalists requested to cover it and speak to Bilbrough, a teacher and several pupils.
Bilbrough said it had already been difficult to present Palestinian children's work in UK schools, noting that organisers had reluctantly removed two poems that mentioned Palestine directly to avoid potential objections from aggressive pro-Israeli lobbies.
During the event, students took part in a live link-up with a young Palestinian poet in Gaza, who spoke about why she writes and the realities of creating art under siege, something he said the children found deeply inspiring.
"I just think they don't want to show this human side of the children of Gaza," Bilrough told the publication.
Since the start of the Gaza genocide, the BBC has faced persistent criticism over its coverage, with viewers, journalists and media analysts saying that its output has favoured Israel despite its stated commitment to neutrality.
One report found the broadcaster gave Israeli deaths 33 times more coverage than Palestinian ones.
The corporation also faced backlash in July for shelving a documentary on Gaza because it was narrated by the son of a Gaza government official, and more than 400 media figures have since urged the BBC to remove a board member over their links to Israel.