Complaint
A listener complained that the BBC Middle East Correspondent Hugo Bachega said there was “overwhelming evidence” that the crisis in Gaza was due to the policies of Israel without presenting evidence for this assertion, which he regarded as a further instance of the BBC reporting stories “fed” to it by Hamas as fact. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
The Correspondent said “Now the UN and a number of countries say that this crisis in Gaza is the result of the restrictions on the entry and distribution of aid, uh, that have been imposed by Israel. Israel rejects these allegations despite the overwhelming evidence that its policies are behind this crisis in Gaza”. While the guidelines say BBC reporters should not express personal opinions, they are empowered to offer “professional judgements” which are “rooted in evidence”, and the ECU viewed this as a case in point. The Correspondent’s statement was based on ample evidence from aid agencies and other non-partisan sources, and it was not a requirement of accuracy or impartiality for such sources to be cited in this short item.
Not upheld