BBC admits possible 'mistake' in coverage of genocide case against Israel

Grilled by British press secretary, the BBC’s editorial policy chief said, Monday, that the broadcaster may have “made a mistake” by its unequal coverage of proceedings in the genocide case Israel is facing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Anadolu Agency reports.

In a session with legislators on Parliament’s Media Committee, the BBC’s Director of Editorial Policy and Standards, David Jordan, addressed concerns over the broadcaster’s decision to air the entire Israeli defence in The Hague, while only showing portions of South Africa’s counter-arguments.

Julie Elliott, a Member of Parliament of the opposition Labour party, raised the issue, questioning the fairness and impartiality of the coverage, particularly highlighting the discrepancy in airtime between the two sides.

When pressed by Elliott, Jordan acknowledged that the coverage on the BBC’s UK output did not offer absolute equivalence between the presentations made to the ICJ.

He pointed out that, while the international output covered both sides of the conflict equally, the UK broadcast had a disparity in its live coverage during those two days.

“When they looked at it, when news looked at it in retrospect, they did think that perhaps they made a mistake in not making the two live coverage events similar or the same,” he said.

“It was genuinely a difficult editorial decision about which hearing they went with,” Jordan explained, further noting that the news team recognised the need for potential adjustments, stating, “News have said that if they thought about it again, they might have done “it’s different.”

Israel is accused of genocide at the ICJ. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Tel Aviv has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian Territory since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

More than 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 171st day, has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

OPINION: Palestinians are at the end of the queue when it comes to international law