Sky News joins BBC against Gaza appeal

Britain's Sky News is refusing to broadcast a humanitarian fundraising appeal for Gaza, following in the footsteps of the BBC.
The 24-hour television news channel said Monday that airing the appeal would put the network's objectivity at risks. "We have to, as an international channel, focus on our primary role and that is to report the story and not become the story", Adrian Wells, Sky News's head of foreign news, said. Sky News domestic rival the BBC had earlier announced it would not broadcast a charity appeal on behalf of the war-hit people of Gaza, saying it would conflict with its policy of "impartiality" as well as reservations about the possibility of efficient aid delivery. The BBC decision sparked widespread criticism. British lawmakers, celebrities and religious leaders have also condemned BBC's move calling it a "wrong decision". A group of anti-war activists occupied the Glasgow offices of the BBC for two hours on Monday to protest the broadcaster's anti-Gaza decision. The appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a group comprised of respected aid charities like the British Red Cross and Oxfam, has emphasized that it has no political agendas and only aims to ease the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished strip. Relief workers say the humanitarian situation in Gaza is at its worst with over 1.1 million people -- about 80 percent of the residents of Gaza -- dependent on food aid. At least 1,330 Palestinians were killed and 5,450 others injured during the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Source: PressTv