Complaint
A viewer complained about the inclusion of an interview with two survivors of the 7 October 2023 attacks, arguing the focus should have been on the more recent and greater suffering in Gaza. The ECU considered whether the broadcast met the editorial standards for impartiality set out in the BBC Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The concept of “due” impartiality is resistant to simple quantification, and does not involve measuring coverage in the ways suggested by the complainant. Instead, the BBC seeks to reflect a wide range views on a given issue over time, so that audiences get a sense of the full picture. In the ECU’s view, understanding how the experiences of people who experienced the 7 October attacks influenced and reflected attitudes in Israel had the potential to help audiences understand the dynamics of a volatile situation and was not evidence of pro-Israel bias.
Not Upheld