The BBC today begins a High Court action that could affect how much information about its journalism must be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.

At stake is whether the BBC should release an internal assessment of the BBC's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict written in 2004 by Malcolm Balen. Solicitor Stephen Sugar filed an FOI request for the document in January 2005.

Last September, the Information Tribunal ruled that the BBC should release the document. The BBC is now seeking to overturn that decision.