Michael Green, Carlton TV chief

Pilger biased, says TV boss

By Adam Sherwi, Media Reporter

THE chairman of Carlton television has condemned a documentary on the Middle East conflict made by his own company as inaccurate and an attack on Israel. John Pilger's film, shown on Monday night, just after the conclusion of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, equated Israeli military action with Palestinian suicide bombers and concluded that injustices inflicted by Israel were at the heart of the conflict.

Michael Green, chairman of Carlton Communications, told the Jewish Chronicle [he is Jewish] that the programme was "a tragedy for Israel as far as accuracy is concerned. I had seen the programme before it was broadcast and was extremely unhappy about it. It was one- sided. It was factually incorrect, historically incorrect."

Mr Green had not sought to prevent it being broadcast in its original form. He said: "I fully accept that we are a public service broadcaster and that is the opinion of John Pilger. Unfortunately, you can't always agree with him. He has a huge reputation but consistently my views are opposed to his views." Mr Green now wanted a programme to be made that gave an Israeli point of view.

Carlton said that calls and e-mails that it had received were divided equally between praise and criticism. The company declined to comment on the allegations of inaccuracy.

The Israeli Embassy called it a "dehumanising portrayal of the Jewish people, exemplified by insinuation and comparison to the Holocaust." Gillian Shephard, of Conservative Friends of Israel, said that the "grossly unbalanced and biased programme" could hardly contribute to peace. Mr Pilger was unavailable for comment last night.

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