Jon Sopel, former BBC journalist and co-host of The News Agents podcast, has criticised the BBC for being overly “cautious” in its journalism.
Speaking to students at Leeds Trinity University’s Journalism and Media Week, he criticised the “default position” of some BBC journalism to give credence to both sides of every argument.
Sopel said it was a “liberation” to have left the BBC for his current role at Global, where he said he now experiences “absolute editorial freedom”.
Whilst Sopel was quick to highlight the virtues of the BBC, he also criticised its coverage of the Israel-Gaza war, specifically its description of Hamas as “militants” rather than “terrorists”.
His comments come after a tough week for the BBC, which has recently come under pressure from accusations of institutional bias and a potential $1bn libel lawsuit from US President Donald Trump.
Speaking on the current crisis at the BBC, Sopel said: “I’m sure the BBC is looking for some way to apologise and grovel … it was so stupid, what happened at Panorama on that edit.”
During the talk, Sopel also spoke about the challenges of his new role as co-host of The News Agents podcast.
He said that choosing which topics to cover can be a “journalistic grey area” when important news stories do not attract enough views.
Comparing the civil war in Sudan to the Israel-Gaza war, he said that despite its significantly higher death toll, audiences did not want to hear about Sudan.
“We’re a commercial product,” he said. “We sink or swim on advertising and sponsorship.”
Sopel also talked about how the three co-hosts of the podcast manage the challenge of having different opinions on certain issues.
He said that the three “profoundly disagree” on issues such as the Israel-Gaza war, but try to “air those differences” on the podcast.
Challenged on his reluctance to describe the Israel-Gaza war as a genocide, he said that doing so would put him too firmly on one side of the debate.
“I don’t think my role is to be a campaigner,” he said. “For me to call the most contested war in my lifetime a genocide is to come down on one side.”
He added: “I don’t want to alienate groups of people by calling it one thing or another.”
He also warned students in the room against taking on an activist role within journalism. “People want us to be spear-carriers,” he said. “Taking on the mantle of activists is not where we should be.”