BBC rejects complaint about promotion of false Gaza casualty figures

Back in July we documented an edition of the BBC Two programme ‘Newsnight’ in which a studio guest promoted disinformation about casualty figures in the Gaza Strip without any challenge from the programme host:

BBC TWO’S ‘NEWSNIGHT’ PROVIDES A PLATFORM FOR DISINFORMATION

The day after that programme was aired, CAMERA UK made a complaint to the BBC which requested an on-air correction and included the following:

“During the first item in this programme, guest Mikaela Loach claimed that:

“…the Lancet said yesterday in one of their reports…ehm…that the death toll is probably more likely to be 186,000 people. That’s 186,000 loves – like immeasurably sacred and important human beings – whose lives have been lost in a huge way because of arms that have been sent directly from the US and money that’s been given from the US.”

The item published in The Lancet on July 5^th – not “yesterday” – was a letter – not a “report”. It did not claim that 186,000 “lives have been lost” in the Gaza Strip. As stated by one of its writers on July 8^th, that number was “purely illustrative”.”

A week later we were informed that it would take the BBC more time to address our complaint. A month after the complaint had been submitted we were told that the BBC had run out of time to address it. On August 28^th – forty-nine days after the complaint had been made – we received the following communication from BBC Complaints:

“Thank you for contacting us about Newsnight on 9th July and a comment made by the panellist Mikaela Loach in relation to the discussion around Joe Biden’s ability to run for the US presidential election. Apologies for the delay in replying.

We were keen to keep the discussion focused on that specific subject matter. We expect our presenters to keep all guests focused and on track. Mikaela Loach quoted a letter, published on 6 July, which suggested the death toll in Gaza was ‘probably more likely to be 186 000 people’. We note that Ms Loach did not express the figure of 186,000 as a statement of fact. Ms Loach states “probably more likely to be…”, which is in line with what the letter itself stated – “it is not implausible to estimate that up to…”

We’re satisfied that our audience understand that The Lancet is journal which allows submissions from different perspectives – whether as reports or letters – on a number of topics. We’re also satisfied that our audience would have quickly established Mikaela Loach’s opinions on the conflict. They would have viewed her comment through that lens. We appreciate you wanted the presenter to challenge on that point but we were keen to focus this particular discussion on President Biden’s health and ensure the conversation was kept on track. As you will have seen, the presenter promptly moved on to ask Lord Kim Darroch for his views on what was happening behind closed doors in the White House so that the discussion returned to the designated topic.

Throughout our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war we have reported on the impact on both sides, and we’ll continue to do so.

We don’t agree the omission of a challenge by the presenter on this occasion constitutes as a breach of our editorial guidelines, but we’re grateful nonetheless for your feedback which has been shared with the programme team.”

As its funding public can see, the BBC is obviously perfectly happy to provide a platform for the politically motivated disinformation of opportunistic activists.