Complaint
A viewer complained about the reporting on recent violence in Israel and Gaza, arguing that it gave the misleading impression Israel had started the exchanges. ÌýThe ECU assessed the complaint against the standards for due accuracy and impartiality set out in the Â鶹Éç Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The complainant singled out the following section of the report:
as they have traded rockets, both sides traded accusations over who started this. But what has happened is last Thursday at two o’clock in the morning, Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders. ÌýThey are members of their military council. ÌýIslamic Jihad next day started to fire rockets, they fired hundreds of rockets towards Israel. ÌýThey said in retaliation for the killing of their leaders. And then escalation was mounting for a couple of days until we reach today a ceasefire.Ìý
In the ECU’s view this paragraph fell short of an explicit claim Israel had started the exchanges. ÌýIt was apparent to viewers that both sides had accused the other of starting the conflict – in keeping with previous exchanges and a dynamic with which regular viewers of News Channel coverage of the Middle East would be familiar. ÌýPrior to the report, the presenter had also set out each side’s perspective and their conditions for a ceasefire. ÌýThe correspondent also explained that two minutes before the ceasefire militant groups had fired rockets on civilian areas in Israel. ÌýIn general terms viewers understood there was a continuum in long running conflicts of this kind, Ìýand any phase of violence might be viewed by one side as having been caused by the actions of the other Ìý
Not Upheld