Neutrality concerns force BBC correspondent to pull out of TV debate on Al Jazeera

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner last night pulled out of an event in London focused on the television network Al Jazeera after concerns were raised about the neutrality of the debate.

Gardner was scheduled to be at a London journalists’ club, the Frontline, to chair a panel discussion to consider potential threats to the future of the Qatar-based network.

However, days before the event, the BBC and Gardner recognised the potential conflict of interests in appearing at such a discussion about a different network.

As a result, the 55-year-old, who was shot and paralysed from the waist down in Saudi Arabia in 2004 by Al Qaeda sympathisers, decided to pull out.

A BBC spokesman confirmed that Gardner would not be appearing at the event, saying: “Unfortunately we are not always able to take part in events we are invited to.”

Laura Gane of the Frontline said: “As discussed with Frank and the BBC, they had some reservations in being involved in an event that they weren’t in control of, that concerned a debate around another network.

“We, therefore, decided to go with Safar Al Ahmad, who is a freelance journalist and therefore not affiliated with a news station,” Gane said.

Al Ahmad is a Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker.

“Because of the sensitivity of this talk, we have turned the discussion into predominately a Q&A discussion where members of the audience can put questions to the panelists, who are at the heart of this controversy.”

The other panellists are Wadah Khanfar, former director general of the Al Jazeera Media Network; Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English; David Hearst, a former leader writer for The Guardian who now edits online news organisation Middle East Eye, which was also on the Quartet list of pro-Qatari media; and Dr Marc Jones from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at Exeter University.