Mark Urban ex BBC Newsnight diplomatic and defence editor on BBC coverage of the Middle East, Newsnight changes and life outside the BBC

Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch

Mark Urban spent many years as the diplomatic and defence editor at BBC Newsnight before leaving in May, after 34 years at the corporation. Prior to joining the BBC, Mark was the defence correspondent for The Independent newspaper for four years. He is the author of several military books and served briefly in the British Army. He is now a writer for The Sunday Times. We discuss allegations of BBC bias against Israel in its Middle East coverage, the challenges and cultural biases in reporting conflicts, changes made to Newsnight, and his life after the BBC.

“If you put those two things together, which is a tight focus on victims and a scepticism about the efficacy of the military instrument, then it's pretty obvious in this current situation that Israel is going to have problems. And I think this is more to do with the way that journalists as a sort of cohort or professional culture define a story, and less to do actually, specifically with the BBC.”

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