BBC controversies about the Director General's decision'. The BBC's chief operating officer, Caroline Thomson, affirmed the need to broadcast "without affecting and impinging on the audience's perception of our impartiality" and that in this case, it was a "real issue." The 2009 Gaza appeal is the only occasion on which the BBC is known to have refused an appeal broadcast request from the DEC. It is reported the 2009 DEC Gaza appeal screened only by Channel 4 and ITV raised £8.3m. In August 2014 the BBC broadcast a new DEC aid appeal for people in Gaza, without similar controversy, which raised £16m
Sky News dimension to television journalism." Sky News was the UK's first 24-hour news channel, broadcast on Astra 1A. It had no local competition until November 1997 when BBC News launched a new 24-hour channel, BBC News 24, now known simply as BBC News. In September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a Sky News complaint which argued that the publicly funded BBC News 24 was unfair and illegal under EU law. The EC ruled that the television licence fee "should" be considered state aid (within the meaning of Article 87) but that the BBC's public service remit justified the channel. In