During the course of a long correspondence, the BBC’s head of editorial standards for audio and music, Paul Smith, wrote that the show’s producer "did not edit out the word 'Palestine’ because it was offensive — referencing Palestine is fine, but implying that it is not free is the contentious issue."

In the same letter in which he disputed the occupation, the BBC’s Paul Smith went on to say: "Palestine does not exist at the moment … 'Palestine’ refers to a historical state or an aspiration."