BBC upholds three Gaza complaints

BBC Trust clears Panorama documentary on Mavi Marmara over majority of complaints, but upholds three out of 51 points The BBC Trust has ruled that a Panorama documentary about the Israeli boarding of the Mavi Marmara was “accurate and impartial” overall, but did breach editorial guidelines. Panorama: Death in the Med, presented by Jane Corbin and broadcast on BBC1 in August 2010, looked at the controversial boarding by Israeli commandos of the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Nine people travelling with the flotilla died in the ensuing confrontation, and a number of Israelis were also injured. Death in the Med prompted 2,000 calls to the BBC. Of those who expressed their opinion about the programme, 72% were negative, although a quarter of those were part of a lobby organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, according to the BBC. Subsequently 19 complaints, raising 51 substantive points, were put to the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee. Complaints on three of these points were upheld by the trust – two relating to breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines regarding accuracy and one on impartiality. The accuracy breaches related to the inclusion of preliminary autopsy reports into how activists died and details of the full extent of the aid on board the flotilla. Panorama was also found by the BBC Trust to have breached impartiality guidelines by not verifying that Israelis took proper care of the badly wounded following allegations of mistreatment of some of the casualties. “The BBC’s courageous journalism is perhaps the clearest articulation of its public service mission, and it is essential that the BBC is able to report on the most controversial issues of the day. But it is equally essential that it meets the very highest standards of accuracy and impartiality,” said Alison Hastings, the chair of the trust’s editorial standards committee. “By having a robust system in place to reassure licence fee payers that issues are picked up and lessons are learned, the BBC can have the space and credibility to make these types of programmes.” A spokesman for BBC News, which made Panorama: Death in the Med said: “BBC News welcomes the findings of the trust on the Panorama Death in the Med. We are pleased that the trust found that the film achieved ‘due impartiality and due accuracy’ and did not uphold the complaint overall. We also welcome the trust’s conclusion that the film was ‘an original, illuminating and well-researched piece of journalism’ and that ‘Panorama performed a valuable public service’. “We note that the trust upheld three out of the 51 points of complaint and we will consider seriously any lessons to be learned. We note that the trust also remarked it is unlikely that a current affairs programme such as this, covering such a contentious issue, would be found to be entirely flawless if it were subjected to the level of deconstruction and analysis that Death in the Med has undergone.” More details soon… •

Posted by on April 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.