In 2009, a small group of dedicated activists concerned about inaccurate and inflammatory coverage of Israel, and tolerance towards antisemitism, in the British media, had an audacious idea: to take on the media group representing the central address of this problem: The Guardian.
The blog established by this group was called CiF Watch, reflecting the initial focus on the Guardian’s online home for op-eds, known as ‘Comment is Free’ (‘CiF’). The initial post at CiF Watch pledged to expose and combat the bigoted and one-sided nature of the Guardian’s obsessive focus on Israel and, by extension, the Jewish people.
In 2012 we launched a sister site to monitor the BBC (BBC Watch), led by Hadar Sela.
In 2013 both CiF Watch and BBC Watch proudly became part of the leading pro-Israel media monitoring organisation, CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis), whose acquisition of our small pro-Israel ‘start-up’ was likened by one supporter to a small Israeli high-tech company being bought by Google.
And, in 2015, we expanded our coverage, and began monitoring British media outlets other than the Guardian, changing our name to UK Media Watch.
Today, in response to rising antisemitism in the UK and continuing media bias against Israel, we’ve launched a new interactive website, CAMERA-UK (www.camera-uk.org,), which will combine content from the two existing UK-focused CAMERA sites: UK Media Watch and BBC Watch.
The CAMERA UK website is more user-friendly and similar in design and layout to the main CAMERA.org website. Most importantly, it includes information on how the public can file complaints to British media outlets in response to false or misleading claims about Israel.
CAMERA-UK will be co-edited by me and Hadar Sela.
The social media accounts for UK Media Watch and BBC Watch will also be merged with CAMERA UK: for Facebook; for Twitter.
We strongly encourage you to read our posts, and forward us tips on British media bias or antisemitism, by emailing us at [email protected].
As always, we thank you – our loyal followers – for continuing to support us in carrying out our vital mission.