BBC admits imbalance in coverage, favors Israel in ICJ broadcast
BBC Director acknowledges potential error in broadcasting Israel’s ICJ defense extensively while sidelining South Africa’s counterarguments
A senior official at the BBC acknowledged an error by choosing to broadcast the entirety of Israel’s defense against genocide allegations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), while only showing some portions of South Africa’s counterarguments.
During a session of the media committee in the U.K. Parliament, BBC Director of Editorial Policy and Standards, David Jordan, responded to questions from lawmakers regarding the fairness of the corporation’s policy of broadcasting ICJ hearings.
BBC concedes bias in ICJ coverage, admits favoring Israel
Labour Party Member of Parliament Julie Elliott asked Jordan, stating, “Do you think it was fair to allocate only a small portion to South Africa’s presentation and then move on to the post office inquiry, which again is a very important story, but to then devote hours the next day to the other side’s (Israel’s) presentation?”
As the BBC official attempted to address the question by discussing the channel’s news agenda, MP Elliott reiterated: “Do you consider that fair, impartial and balanced?”
Director of Editorial Policy and Standards at the BBC, Jordan, responded: “I believe when you look at our coverage decisions, we generally find ourselves in a reasonable position.”
To which the British MP remarked: “David, do you think it was fair and impartial? I’m talking about the broadcast of the two-day hearings, not the rest of the news.”
Jordan explained that the editorial decision was made to broadcast the simultaneous post office hearing in the U.K. alongside the ICJ hearings, highlighting that the coverage of presentations to both sides of the conflict and the ICJ was included in the international news but a different editorial decision was made for U.K. news.
“In hindsight, the news team felt that perhaps not making the two live broadcast events similar or identical may have been a mistake,” the BBC official added.
Source: Newsroom
