Further exchange with BBC (previous correspondence here and here).
Enquiry now raised to Stage 2 level for consideration by the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU).
From the BBC
22 November 2023
Dear Mr Hilley,
Ref: CAS-7679120-B1Y1G2-1
Thank you for getting in touch again about BBC News.
The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines refer to due accuracy and due impartiality, which is to say the accuracy and impartiality must be adequate and appropriate to the output, taking account of the subject and nature of the content, the likely audience expectation and any signposting that may influence.
What other media outlets report is a matter for them, but we will monitor developments about the killings as the story unfolds.
This concludes Stage 1 of our complaints process. That means we can’t correspond with you further here. If you remain unhappy, you can now contact the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU). The ECU is Stage 2 of the BBC’s complaints process. You’ll need to explain why you think there’s a potential breach of standards, or if the issue is significant and should still be investigated. Please do so within 20 working days of this reply.
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Sean Moss
Assistant Editor
News Editorial Standards
…………………………………….
To the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU)
23 November 2023
Ref: CAS-7679120-B1Y1G2-1
The BBC have reported, without any apparent challenge, both of Israel’s claims that Hamas killed 1400/1200 people on and around 7 October.
Two initial questions arise here. Aren’t both these numbers too precisely rounded, and therefore suspect? And why take Israel’s claims alone without corroborating evidence?
The more specific point of my enquiry concerns the people who were not killed by Hamas on and around 7 October. It’s about the people killed by Israeli forces.
Strong, available evidence indicates that Israeli forces killed a significant number of Israelis on and around 7 October.
That key information is not stated in the repeated BBC headline that “Hamas killed 1400/1200 people”.
Further to my previous references, please see this well-informed article, drawing together all the main sources and evidence, to date.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/evidence-israel-killed-its-own-citizens-7-october/41156
Whatever one thinks about what happened on those days, the claim that Hamas alone killed 1400/1200 Israelis has not been verified, and therefore cannot be justified as a BBC headline/statement.
The BBC has clearly been reproducing a crucial untruth in publishing and broadcasting this unverified claim.
I have written in my previous correspondence with the BBC about the key implications of this in terms of fostering public perceptions of the 7 October events, and, most crucially, what Israel has gone on to do in Gaza.
In all such senses the BBC has a responsibility to convey clear and accurate information. This headline claim is clear disinformation.
I wish the ECU to consider why the BBC decided to use, and continues to use, the wording “Hamas killed 1400/1200 people”.
I wish the ECU to consider my request that the BBC withdraw this headline/statement with immediate effect.
I wish the ECU to consider my request that the BBC issue a prominent statement conceding their culpability in producing and repeating this misleading headline, and issue a properly informed replacement headline/statement.
