BBC moves to reassure Jewish staff after former producer's antisemitism claims

The BBC has moved to reassure its Jewish employees that discrimination against them will not be tolerated, following claims of antisemitism from a former producer at the corporation.

Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC's deputy director general, held talks on Tuesday with representatives of the broadcaster's Jewish staff network after media coverage of the case of Lucie Kon, the former commissioning editor for the Storyville documentary series.

Kon received a £400,000 payment from the corporation after leaving her role. She said she experienced antisemitism following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The BBC said its internal processes did not uphold her claims, though it acknowledged "shortcomings, and the personal impact" on her.

The Jewish staff group is understood to have requested the meeting in response to her allegations. In an interview, Kon said: "The BBC isn't full of antisemites, but it does have a problem with antisemitism." Her case has led some MPs and former BBC figures, including ex-home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw, to call for an independent inquiry.

Talfan Davies did not accept that such an inquiry is needed, instead pointing to new antisemitism training for staff and internal efforts to foster an inclusive culture. He is also understood to have written to some Jewish staff members after coverage of the case.

The episode is an early test for Talfan Davies, who was given the deputy role to identify the kinds of crises that ultimately led to the resignation of former director general Tim Davie. Those crises included disputes over Middle East coverage, among them an apology last year for a Gaza documentary that failed to disclose its child narrator was the son of a Hamas official, and criticism over the decision to drop another documentary about medics in Gaza because it "risked creating a perception of partiality". That programme was later broadcast by Channel 4.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch in London this week, Talfan Davies said an independent inquiry was unnecessary because "we have very, very robust processes - we review them regularly". He added: "Of course in any large organisation there can be instances of discrimination, which you deal with when they arise, but there is no evidence of any systemic issue within the BBC that would merit anything like that."

He said the BBC had "taken enormous steps" to improve workplace culture, including mandatory training and acting on a recent review focused on "calling out bad behaviour". "I don't recognise a description of the BBC as in any way institutionally discriminatory," he said, while acknowledging that recent coverage "will have been difficult for our Jewish colleagues" and pledging to support them.

While the BBC has said the antisemitism complaints in Kon's case were not upheld, it has not explained the size of her payout. Talfan Davies said he could not comment further for legal reasons, but stressed: "It didn't relate to findings of antisemitism in the investigation."