Barbara Plett

Barbara Plett is a Canadian journalist with experience in the Middle East. She has worked for the BBC in Jerusalem, Islamabad and the United Nations. In 2004 she attracted controversy when she cried at the sight of terminally-ill Nobel Laureate Yasser Arafat being taken to hospital and was accused of favouring that side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Education
Plett graduated from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.
Personal life
Plett is married to Graham Usher, the former Jerusalem correspondent of The Economist magazine.
Career
Plett worked as BBC correspondent in Jerusalem before being transferred to Islamabad. She is the BBC's UN Correspondent.
Tears for Yasser Arafat
During the BBC programme From Our Own Correspondent broadcast on September 30, 2004, Plett said she cried when she saw Nobel Laureate Yasser Arafat being taken to hospital during his terminal illness. This led to suggestions that the BBC was biased. BBC News defended Plett in a statement saying that her reporting had met the high standards of "fairness, accuracy and balance" expected of a BBC correspondent. ruled that Plett’s comments “breached the requirements of due impartiality”.<ref name="TomGross"/> Despite initially issuing a statement in support of Plett, the BBC director of news Helen Boaden later apologized for what she described as "an editorial misjudgment". The governors praised Boaden's speedy response and reviewed the BBC's stance on the Israeli repression of Palestine.<ref name="Guardian"/>

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