Complaint
A viewer complained that the newsreader had given the misleading and tendentious impression that the entire civilian population of Gaza was facing annihilation. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The context was a report on the concerns expressed by aid agencies about the possibility of mass starvation in Gaza. The newsreader quoted a letter signed by a number of such agencies which urged action to “save lives before there are none left to save”. While accepting that this form of words represented a somewhat hyperbolical account of the situation facing Gazans, the ECU considered its use in the item to have been an accurate reflection of the concerns expressed by aid agencies, and likely to be understood as such rather than as a strictly factual assessment of the situation.
Not upheld
