Last week we noted that on July 12th, the BBC News website published a report by David Gritten in which readers were told that “On Monday, settlers set fields ablaze close to a fifth-Century church”. As we observed:
“Notably, Gritten did not name a source or provide any evidence to back up his unequivocal statement “settlers set fields ablaze”.
On July 21st the Israeli Police put out a statement clarifying that the incident is under investigation, that it has not yet been confirmed that the incident was the result of arson and that any perpetrator has yet to be identified.”
BBC NEWS PROMOTES UNSOURCED, UNEVIDENCED ARSON CLAIM
The BBC’s response to our complaint on that matter reveals the source of Gritten’s claim: [emphasis added]
“I have looked carefully at your message and the report to which it refers. I understand you were concerned about a sentence in this report by David Gritten which said: On Monday, settlers set fields ablaze close to a fifth-Century church [in Taybeh], leading to a call for international action from the town’s priests.
You asked what the source was for this statement. You also pointed out that the police in Israel say the matter is under investigation and have not confirmed whether arson was the cause.
David Gritten has told us his sources were eyewitnesses who had talked to the BBC.
He also points out that his report was published on 12 July but that the police released their statement on 21 July.”
Clearly neither David Gritten nor anyone else at the BBC News website considered it necessary to verify the claims of those conveniently available “eyewitnesses”.
The BBC’s response continues:
“We do not normally update reports from the past to put in new information. Therefore, we did not put the police statement in the 12 July report.
However, we published a report on 23 July which looked at what happened in Taybeh and which included the police statement:
An Israeli police statement said on Tuesday that a special investigative unit had found that “contrary to misleading reports, no damage was caused” to the church. It said the fire was limited to an adjacent open area and that arson was not yet confirmed – https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2ljemmnyko
The report also points out that witnesses to whom the BBC spoke disagree with the position the police are taking about the fires near the church in Taybeh: However, one witness told the BBC that he saw settlers starting the blaze and others accused Israeli security forces of failing to respond to their complaints.
We do not believe that the statement made by David Gritten in his report was unverified, as you allege, and we do not believe any correction to it is needed.”
As we all too often have cause to note, the BBC describes its online content as “permanent public record”. The BBC’s guidance on “Removal of BBC Online Content” states:
“Where online content, particularly news, was accurate at the time of publication, there is a presumption that it will not normally be removed. New facts that did not exist at the time of publication do not make the original content inaccurate.
However, where the omission of new facts would be misleading and unfair, such as the outcome of a court case, the content should usually be updated.
Where a complainant says the content was inaccurate or seriously misleading at the time of publication, it should be investigated and corrected, where appropriate.”
The BBC’s online “permanent public record” now includes one report stating unequivocally that “settlers set fields ablaze” and another stating that “arson was not yet confirmed”.
While the BBC may consider – as is all too apparent in this response – the claims of unidentified “eyewitnesses” to be more credible that the findings of an Israeli police force special investigative unit, it is clear that the refusal to update Gritten’s report – even by adding a link to the later one by Yolande Knell – does indeed mislead anyone accessing that article in the future.
