BBC issues qualified apology over Chanukah bus attack reporting

From The Jewish Chronicle

An internal BBC investigation into its reporting of the antisemitic attack on Oxford Street has refused to say whether its reporting was accurate and has denied claims of ‘victim blaming’ the Jewish teenagers who were harassed as they celebrated Chanukah.

The BBC has been at the centre of a storm of controversy after its report into the November 29th attack on Jewish teenagers by a gang of thugs claimed one of them said ‘dirty Muslims’.

The JC understands that the decision was made at a “very senior management level” at the BBC not to update the original news reports to acknowledge it was disputed as to whether a smear was heard.

An internal review by the Executive Complaints Unit, published today, dismissed complaints from Jewish organisations that its report was “victim blaming” but conceded “more could have been done” to “acknowledge the differing views ..on what was said” and has agreed to amend its copy.

The findings are unlikely to appease Jewish community groups, including the Board of Deputies which has threatened to refer the BBC’s coverage to Ofcom. Crucially it has failed to rule on whether its believes its controversial claim made on BBC London online was accurately reported or not.

The Board of Deputies hired forensic analysts who concluded that rather than an English racial slur, one teenager can be heard calling for help in Hebrew.

According to iNews Ofcom are already on the case. 

Media watchdog Ofcom has launched an investigation into the BBC’s coverage of an anti-Semitic attack on a Hanukkah party bus, after the broadcaster upheld complaints made against it.

Ofcom said that the BBC’s response “raises issues under our due accuracy rules” and said it had launched an investigation.

Board of Deputies of British Jews president Marie van der Zyl welcomed Ofcom’s decision to investigate and said the body “trust[s] that justice will prevail.”

“We note the ECU finding that the BBC did not meet standards of due accuracy and impartiality. We are however dismayed that the Corporation continues to justify certain erroneous editorial decisions that continue to cloud the issue and will compound the distress faced by the victims,” she said.

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said it welcomed Ofcom’s decision, but added: “It took the BBC two months and four pages to deliver a whitewash non-apology that stands by its spurious reporting of an anti-Muslim slur and dismisses the monumental offence generated by its coverage.”

The body said it hoped that the Ofcom investigation “will hopefully deliver the justice to the Jewish community that the BBC has once more denied”.

No news yet that the police have tracked down the young men who attacked the bus. Why doesn’t that surprise me. I don’t expect the young chap who slashed at Hatun Tash will ever face justice either.