The BBC is about to launch its new For­eign Office fun­ded, 12-hour Arabic chan­nel. This exchange between Asharq al-Awsat’s Faisal Abbas and the BBC’s Nigel Chap­man sums up my feel­ings exactly. Report­ing the status quo is not report­ing.

Q: You stated that you always strive to be impar­tial, but don’t you think that what many people are expect­ing is not impar­ti­al­ity at all but rather the expos­ure of cor­rup­tion and con­flicts in Arab states and to dis­cuss issues that other chan­nels avoid? Do you agree that in the absence of demo­cracy in many of the states that what is required is a “cam­paign­ing broad­caster” not impar­tial media as such?

A: That is a very inter­est­ing ques­tion. The BBC is not a cam­paign­ing broad­caster; it does not have a view about issues in the Middle East or any­where else. BBC’s job is to report them fairly and accur­ately and to reflect the rel­ev­ant points of view in rela­tion to them.