Complaint
A viewer complained that reports of the death of Charlie Kirk showed bias by describing him as a “right-wing activist”. You suggested a more accurate description would be “a Christian conservative leader in the US and the Founder and President of Turning Point USA”. The ECU considered whether the programme’s description met the BBC’s standards of accuracy and impartiality.
Outcome
The killing of Mr Kirk was covered extensively during the programme, and several terms were used to describe him. The headlines at the start of each hour described him as “one of the USA’s most prominent right-wing political activists” whereas the introduction to the first report referred to him as “One of President Trump’s most influential allies”, while the main news report of the shooting began by describing Mr Kirk as a person who “built a movement of young conservative activists, a link between President Trump’s White House and the students who helped get him there”. The ECU saw no departure from due accuracy and impartiality in the use of the term “right-wing” activist” in this context.
Not Upheld