A Putney solicitor has failed in his attempt to get the BBC to publish a report on their Middle East coverage.

Steven Sugar had previously been successful in persuading a tribunal to give him access to the Balen Report. Critics of the BBC believe that the report confirmed their view that the corporation's coverage of events in the Middle East had an anti-Israeli bias.

However, the BBC appealed to the High Court saying that the Freedom of Information Act did not apply in this case and the information tribunal did not have jurisdiction to force the 20,000 word document to be released.

Mr. Sugar described the verdict as a 'technical win' and said that the result weighted the Freedom of Information in favour of the BBC.