Panorama – what it missed out

JVL Introduction

Press Gang has now published this critique of the Panorama programme “Why  British Jews Are Afraid” about which we wrote recently. This focuses on many things that the programme missed out, eg there was no counter viewpoint, no interviews with Jewish people who do not feel afraid. It also missed out the experience of Muslims, which gets dismissed too often as “what aboutery” but is surely necessary.

The programme was made and broadcast before the attack in Golders Green where two visibly Jewish men were stabbed. There have, as we know, been other recent antisemitic  attacks: antisemitism is real and rising but Jewish safety is not helped by a lack of balance or assertions that marches for Palestine are part of, if not the source of this.  Jewish people, like all people, have the right to live without fear but we also have a right to have a fair representation of what is happening and to not having understandable fears preyed upon.

To address antisemitism requires not only to end the conflation of Jews with Israel and the actions of the Israeli State but also to work across communities not only for better understanding but to stand together against the rising racism and division being fostered in Britain by the likes of Reform and, to its shame, this “Labour” government. Understanding how the media is part of the problem rather than the solution is necessary as we move forward.

LL

This article was originally published by Press Gang on Substack on Tue 5 May 2026. Read the original here.