As journalists around the world took collective action this week to demand Israel stop killing their colleagues, emails seen by Novara Media show that BBC staff members and union reps warned their colleagues against attending a vigil for Palestinian journalists – despite it being organised by a branch of their own union.

Last Wednesday, members of the London Freelance Branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which represents over 3,000 NUJ members, held a vigil opposite Downing Street to honour the journalists in Gaza that Israel has killed since 7 October 2023 – at least 247, according to the UN human rights office. Among those in attendance was Sangita Myska, the former LBC presenter who was taken off air soon after a hostile interview with Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy.

NUJ branch members also delivered a letter to the prime minister calling on the government to support an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Israel’s targeting of media workers. In 2022, UK law firms, international journalism associations and human rights groups jointly submitted a complaint to the ICC, calling on the court to investigate Israel’s targeting of journalists in Palestine, at least 46 of whom Israel killed between 2000 and 2022.

Yet rather than encouraging members to attend the union demo, union reps within the BBC did the opposite. An email received by several NUJ members at the BBC reminded colleagues that “BBC colleagues are restricted when it comes to events that could have a political angle” and encouraged them to “adhere to the BBC’s own policies”.

The BBC’s editorial guidance on impartiality states: “BBC staff may be able to participate in some parades, marches or gatherings, including events such as trade union rallies, under the banner of the BBC group to which they belong, but not representing the organisation as a whole.”

The guidance adds: “People working in news and current affairs and factual journalism (across all divisions), as well as those in senior leadership roles, should not participate in public demonstrations or gatherings about issues which are controversial, party political or relate to public policy.”

In November 2023, dozens of Jewish staff members, including those working in current affairs and factual journalism, defied this guidance to attend a demonstration organised by pro-Israel groups billed as a “march against antisemitism”.

A spokesperson for the central NUJ firmly denied to Novara Media that it had discouraged BBC members from attending the recent vigil for dead Gazan journalists. “The guidance issued to reps … was specifically designed to ensure BBC employees did not inadvertently break the corporation’s rules on being impartial as doing so might put them in a vulnerable position at work,” they wrote.

A spokesperson for the BBC said they were unaware of specific guidance issued by the corporation on this or any other vigil.

A senior journalist and broadcaster at the BBC told Novara Media they were deeply concerned at the NUJ rep’s refusal to support journalists who want to honour their killed Palestinian colleagues, and said the email was emblematic of the broader union’s passivity on Gaza.

“The NUJ has not fought for its BBC staff members who work in news to freely attend the recent vigil for murdered Gazan journalists recently organised by the NUJ’s London freelance branch,” they said. “Apparently, showing solidarity for fellow journalists whose work and contacts we rely on heavily to form the basis of our own understanding, reports and stories could be a breach of our impartiality guidelines.

“How many more Palestinian journalists need to die before the NUJ makes clear to the BBC that standing up for the rights of journalists to be protected while doing their job is not political but built on the very foundations of journalism – truth, transparency and accountability – that the BBC likes to think forms the basis of its values?”

The journalist added that the email typified the NUJ’s avoidant approach to members covering the Gaza genocide. “The NUJ has been appalling when it comes to [Gaza]. … The reps have been spineless. They’re told about stories being shut down across newsrooms and about their pro-Israel bias … and done sod-all.”

“We’re part of the union, paying our subs. What are they doing for the rights of their journalists to report on the truth? Many members are questioning their future with the union if the NUJ’s ineffectiveness on the matter continues,” they added.

The NUJ has published several strongly-worded statements in solidarity with journalists in Gaza since the start of the genocide, most recently condemning Israel’s “horrific attack” in August that killed five Al Jazeera journalists and media workers. Beyond this, the union has largely declined to intervene in workplace disputes between journalists and outlets that some staff say are failing in their coverage of Gaza.

Within the NUJ, the BBC branch holds significant sway due to its status as a public broadcaster and its being the largest employer in the union after Reach PLC, which owns over 120 news brands including the Mirror and Express. Tensions over the BBC’s coverage of Gaza and the NUJ’s response to it flared in April at the union’s national delegates’ meeting, its biennial conference.

Fierce debate broke out over motion 102, brought by the London magazine branch, which noted a 2024 letter signed by 101 BBC staff accusing the broadcaster of providing favourable coverage to Israel in its Gaza coverage. The motion called on the union to “develop a collective response to the undermining of editorial standards in coverage” of Gaza.

However, BBC delegates at the conference argued that the motion was in breach of NUJ rules, and successfully forced it to be amended before it could be discussed. BBC delegates accused the motion of representing an attack on the integrity of BBC journalists, arguing that its passing could put reporters’ lives at risk. BBC delegates also asked whether fellow delegates thought the world would be a better place without BBC journalism and heckled other delegates who spoke in support of the motion.

A union source who was present at the conference, and who requested anonymity, told Novara Media: “BBC delegates at the conference sounded like representatives of the BBC press office rather than trade unionists. They couldn’t distinguish between the positions of BBC management and their role as trade unionists – in which they should be challenging management.”

Asked if BBC journalists would be permitted to attend future vigils for journalists, the BBC would not answer.

On Monday, journalists at over 250 media outlets in 50 countries – including the Independent newspaper and the US National Public Radio – jointly altered their front pages and home pages to demand an end to Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza.

The NUJ London Freelance Branch declined to comment.

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