Criticisms over the report’s accuracy and impartiality were partially upheld by the BBC’s complaints unit.
Image source, Reuters
The BBC should have updated an article about an alleged anti-Semitic incident in London in November, its complaints unit has ruled.
The BBC should have recognised there was “genuine doubt” about its report an anti-Muslim slur was heard, it said.
It followed complaints about coverage of abuse directed towards a group of Jewish teenagers on a minibus.
However, the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU) did not agree that the article amounted to victim-blaming.
The use of “alleged” to describe the abuse was also described as necessary for legal reasons.
Complaints made by individuals and groups including the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the chief rabbi were partially upheld in relation to accuracy and impartiality.
The BBC has accepted the findings of the ECU – which is editorially independent of BBC News – and apologised “for not doing more to highlight that these details were contested”.
“We should have reflected this and acted sooner,” a spokesperson added in a statement.
The report related to an incident on Oxford Street on 29 November 2021, where Jewish passengers on a privately hired bus were subjected to abuse.
Police said at the time they were treating the incident as a hate crime. No arrests have yet been made and enquiries are still ongoing.
The BBC’s original online article on 2 December claimed “some racial slurs about Muslims” could also be heard in footage of the incident.
The following day, this line was amended to say “a slur about Muslims” could be heard from the bus.
A BBC London TV report on the same story, also said “you can hear some racial slurs about Muslim people”.
However, groups including the Board of Deputies of British Jews disputed this and complained to the BBC about the coverage.
After investigating the footage with the help of native Hebrew speakers, the Board of Deputies interpreted the words as a Hebrew phrase – “Call someone, it’s urgent”.