BBC News website corrects error in interviewee’s name

On August 7th the BBC News website published a report by Jenny Hill titled “Israel’s underground hospital prepares for attack”.

Hill’s mostly unremarkable report from Haifa tells BBC audiences about contingency planning at the Rambam Medical Centre. It also includes an interview with the mayor of that city, with the original version telling readers that:

Apparently that report was not proofread or fact checked before publication because the first name of the mayor of Haifa is not Yono but Yona.

That error remained online the following day and so CAMERA UK submitted a complaint to the BBC. Within a couple of hours, we received the following communication from the BBC News website:

“Thank you for writing in. This typo has now been corrected. We apologise for the error.” 

Fact checking the spelling of names would of course seem to be a fairly basic requirement for a media organisation committed to accuracy.

 

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