BBC Arabic accused of withholding guest pay for 2 years

BBC Arabic was also embroiled in another controversy last year. (Screenshot)
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  • 鈥淭he important matter I want to discuss now is that BBC Arabic hasn鈥檛 paid us any dues for two years,鈥� Political analyst Mehdi Eliefifi said

LONDON: BBC Arabic was accused last week of not paying its contributors for two years after one of its guests cut a live interview to raise the issue.

Political analyst Mehdi Eliefifi was invited to speak on a BBC Arabic newscast about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict when he cut his commentary in order to raise the failed payments issue.

鈥淭he important matter I want to discuss now is that BBC Arabic hasn鈥檛 paid us any dues for two years,鈥� he said, in reference to analysts appearing on the channel鈥檚 program.

He then held a piece of paper in front of the camera, on which the names of the channel鈥檚 officials were written in English and Arabic, as well as the question 鈥渨here are my financial dues that haven鈥檛 been paid for two years?鈥�

BBC Arabic issued a statement to Arab News and on Twitter, saying: 鈥淭o clarify the issue of the symbolic payments owed to some of the BBC鈥檚 guests, we conducted further investigations and we are aware of a technical defect in the payment mechanism within the institution, which led to the delay in the dues of some guests.

鈥淭herefore, we apologize for the delay to all those affected by this matter and assure that we are working hard to solve this case as soon as possible.鈥�

The BBC鈥檚 English-language service declined to comment on the matter while it 鈥渓ooked into the technical issue.鈥�

BBC Arabic was also embroiled in another controversy last year, when an investigation by The Jewish Chronicle titled 鈥淪hame of BBC Arabic as systematic bias revealed,鈥� highlighted the Arabic-language news channel鈥檚 consistent use of antisemitic and 鈥淗amas-inspired language.鈥�

However, a BBC spokesperson strongly rejected claims of compromised impartiality and said: 鈥淏BC Arabic shares exactly the same principles of accuracy and impartiality as BBC News in English.鈥�