Complaint
A listener took issue with a report on Gaza arguing the inclusion of an Israeli claim about the bombing of a school in Gaza amounted to pro-Israel propaganda. 聽The ECU considered whether the broadcast met the editorial standards for accuracy and impartiality set out in the 麻豆社 Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The difference between reporting the claims of one side of a conflict and reporting accepted facts is widely understood by audiences. 聽Due impartiality does not require precise equivalence whereby every claim is matched by a counter-claim. 聽In this case, the ECU noted the report made clear what Israel had struck was 鈥渁 school sheltering displaced people鈥, and that the dead and wounded were 鈥渁nother reminder of the remorseless toll of the conflict鈥. 聽Audiences would therefore have understood an Israeli missile had struck a school and killed and wounded people in a place where displaced people were sheltering. The inclusion of the Israeli claim 鈥 despite the absence of a precisely equivalent Palestinian account - did not therefore give rise to bias or inaccuracy.
Not upheld