During the war, the BBC was considered so biased that the Royal Navy reportedly axed it from the HMS Ark Royal.

Sailors on the Portsmouth-based aircraft carrier have become increasingly disenchanted with the BBC's slant on the war.

They claim the news organisation places more faith in Iraqi reports than information coming from British or Allied sources.

"The BBC always takes the Iraqis' side," one senior rating complained.

"It reports what they say as gospel but when it comes to us it questions and doubts everything the British and Americans are reporting.

"A lot of people on board are very unhappy."

Ark is one of a handful of task force ships which receives live TV direct from Britain with rolling news and two entertainment channels beamed into the warship as part of efforts to improve creature comforts.

But officers and ratings alike are angry at the Beeb's coverage of the war so far.

In fairness, the BBC denies the report.

It appears Israel is also unhappy with the BBC reporting.

ISRAEL broke all contact with the BBC yesterday in protest at its repeated “demonisation” of the country and today’s planned showing on BBC World of a critical documentary on Israel’s nuclear, biological and chemical arsenal.

The move will involve a refusal to put up official spokesmen for BBC interviews. There will be visa restrictions, not imposed on other news organisations in Israel, to ensure that the bureau chief is rotated every few months and to make it hard for BBC staff to report.

It appears there's a lot of popular support for killing the BBC license fee of 112 pounds per year (apparently per TV set).