A Sky News reporter has been accused of not being impartial and having taken “a side” in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, after claiming Israel had committed “war crimes”.
The channel’s special correspondent Alex Crawford was blasted by a former BBC executive over her comments, claiming that she evidently appeared “uninterested in the principles of impartiality, balance and accuracy”.
According to the Telegraph, Sky’s social media rules stipulate that their journalists “are expected to use social media responsibly, adhering to the principles of fairness, accuracy, impartiality, legality and rigour”.
“You are personally responsible for the content you publish on social networks.”
The Sky News correspondent is one of more than 50 journalists who signed a petition demanding that Israel and Egypt provide “free and unfettered access” to Gaza.
And in December, the 61-year-old journalist claimed that reporters were being prevented from entering Gaza to disguise Israeli criminality.
Taking to X, Ms Crawford wrote: “It is absolutely farcical to try to peddle the view that foreign journalists are not entering Gaza because it’s ‘dangerous’.
“International journalists have been delib [deliberately] blocked from entering Gaza by primarily Israel who doesn’t want them seeing the war crimes.”
This isn’t the first time Ms Crawford has caused controversy around posts she’s made on X.
In an X post published in November 2023, when 23 Palestinian prisoners were swapped for eight Israeli hostages, Ms Crawford appeared to falsely report the crime of at least one prisoner.
Beneath it was a community note, which read: “The list of the Palestinian prisoners includes their offences. None of the prisoners are kept for raising a Palestinian flag.”
Danny Cohen, a former director of television at the BBC, told The Telegraph: “Alex Crawford appears uninterested in the principles of impartiality, balance and accuracy that underpin broadcast journalism in the UK. She has clearly taken a side in the Israel-Hamas war, accusing Israel of war crimes without presenting any evidence and making up claims about Palestinian prisoners.”
Mr Cohen added: “At a time of exponentially rising anti-Semitism, Sky News must act to ensure their journalists are reporting the war without bias and purely on the basis of facts.”
Sky News has been approached for comment.
