The High Court in the UK on Thursday ruled in favour of journalist Owen Jones after a BBC editor brought a libel case over an article he wrote in December 2024.
Raffi Berg, the BBC’s Middle East Editor, took Jones to court in November last year after Jones alleged the editor was key to promoting a wider culture of “systematic Israeli propaganda” within the broadcaster.
In Jones’ article, entitled “The BBC’s Civil War Over Gaza” and published by Drop Site News, Jones spoke to current and former journalists at the BBC, many of whom said that Berg had reshaped headlines, copy and images to highlight the Israeli military and government perspective and downplay Palestinian suffering.
Berg has denied this.
“[Journalists] singled out Berg, one of whom says plays a key role in a wider BBC culture of ‘systematic Israeli propaganda’,” the article reads.
It adds that “facts unfavourable to Israel have been stripped out of Berg’s reports” and that he played a “crucial role” in “conduct that imperils the integrity of the BBC“.
The High Court ruled in Jones’s favour, saying he had expressed an opinion based on examples of Berg’s journalism and editorial work.
The court rejected Berg’s main argument that Jones presented him as “a rogue journalist and editor who deliberately disregards and breaches the duties of accuracy and impartiality”.
The BBC editor claimed the article seriously harmed his reputation as a journalist and editor, leading to an “onslaught” of online abuse, including death threats, causing him fear, anxiety, humiliation, upset and distress.
Berg was seeking damages, an injunction to stop republication of the article, and orders for it to be removed from websites.
“I am delighted that the High Court has ruled in my favour on the key issues in the libel case brought by Raffi Berg,” Jones said in a statement on X.
“I stand by my journalism and, if Mr Berg decides to continue the libel claim, I look forward to defending my article in court.”
Owen Jones has often used his platform to critique Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as the mainstream media and the governing Labour Party over their stance that favours Israel.
The journalist formally left the Labour Party in 2024 over current Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s support for Israel’s conduct in Gaza, which is today widely seen as a genocide.
