Last month we documented inaccurate portrayal of Palestinian prisoners as “hostages” in an item aired on the January 15th edition of BBC Radio 5 Live’s ‘5 Live Drive’:
“The explanation provided by “BBC Climate/Environment correspondent” Jonah Fisher included the following: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]
Fisher: “The way it will work is every few days, some of those hostages – or the bodies of those hostages – ah…will be released by Hamas and then in return…ah…Israel will reciprocate by releasing, we’ve been told, something in the region of thirty Palestinian hostages from prisons here in Israel for each hostage or a body of a hostage that Hamas gives up.””
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS PORTRAYED AS ‘HOSTAGES’ ON BBC RADIO 5 LIVE
At noted at the time, CAMERA UK submitted a complaint to the BBC on that issue which included the observation that “with the programme remaining available online for several weeks to come, even more listeners are likely to be misled by that inaccurate portrayal”.
On January 30th – ten days after the submission of our complaint – we received a response from BBC Complaints which includes the following:
“Thank you for contacting us regarding the discussion about the Gaza ceasefire deal on 5 Live Drive, 15th January. You may be aware the news of the ceasefire broke while the programme was on air, and the team responded by producing an extended two hour rolling news programme from 1700 onwards.
At the start of this sequence and while the story was still developing our correspondent Jonah Fisher stated that this was “a complex staged agreement involving hostage releases and Palestinian prisoners being released in return”. When asked to explain in more detail he referred to a suggested plan where Israel would release “30 Palestinian hostages from prisons”. We acknowledge he should have been more consistent with his language in this second unscripted reference but given this was a single instance in a live, breaking programme discussing these matters and came quickly after the first quote, we’re satisfied our listeners would have understood what was happening.” [emphasis added]
Our complaint was of course about accuracy rather than ‘consistency’. Convicted terrorists serving multiple life sentences for terror attacks and murder are not “hostages” and portraying them as such feeds a specific politically motivated narrative.
If the BBC is indeed “satisfied” that all the listeners to that programme either at the time, after the initial broadcast or in the future (the programme concerned is still available online) “would have understood”, then one must wonder why it needs a Guidance on Live Output which includes a section on “How to Deal with a Serious Incident in a Live Broadcast”, with serious incidents defined as including “Factual Errors”.
“If it is established during a live programme that a factual error has been made and we can accurately correct it then we should admit our mistake clearly and frankly. Saying what was wrong as well as putting it right can be an important element in making an effective correction.”
Meanwhile, the BBC journalist concerned chose to block CAMERA UK on Twitter (X).
Biased BBC.fact a convicted terrorist is not a hostage. They are ombers andurderers.Someone taken by force from a
Music festival or their own home is a hostage.