Complaint
A viewer complained of biased language in a report on the Gaza conflict, particularly in the use of the word hostages. The ECU considered whether the wording used met the standards for impartiality set out in the BBC Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The report referred to the fact Hamas had returned the bodies of some Israeli “hostages” (and a Nepalese national) in an exchange which also saw the release of a number of Palestinian “prisoners and detainees”.
The guidelines on impartiality make clear this kind of commentary is to be judged in context and is resistant to simple quantification. It does not require a precise equivalence of coverage, or of language.
In the context of the fact that the majority of those captured by Hamas were civilians, and those who were soldiers were not captured while in combat in Gaza but in Israel, the word hostages was an appropriate term for those referred to in this report.
Not Upheld