'Corrosively woke' BBC continues to be plagued with retractions, apologies related to Israel-Hamas war
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) continues to be plagued with embarrassing gaffes, apologies and corrections related to stories detailing developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
Tim Graham, executive editor of the conservative watchdog NewsBusters, noticed the alarming trend and feels the BBC is simply too "woke" to accurately cover the war.
"Sadly, many journalists on the left idolize the BBC as the most trustworthy public broadcaster in the world. PBS and NPR aspire to be as glorified among their colleagues as the BBC is. But the facts oppose that view," Graham told Fox News Digital.
"The BBC is corrosively woke and cannot be trusted to report on global matters without applying a very ideological oppressor/oppressed lens to the world. Like our public broadcasters, they only seek the approval of their own bubble on the left," Graham continued. "The only difference here is that left-wing Jews shame them into a fraction of introspection on the Jews – specifically the Israelis – being the oppressive murderers, especially after the indiscriminate slaughter on October 7."
The BBC apologized last weekend for airing an unverified December radio report that accused Israel Defense Forces troops of executing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The BBC essentially reported accusations by the terror group Hamas, but "sufficient efforts were not made to corroborate the claim" that IDF troops had executed Palestinians. The report aired on December 24, and the apology came January 5.
"In overnight output, we ran a story about Hamas accusing the Israeli army of carrying out summary executions in the Gaza Strip. This was a Hamas statement, but although the accusations were attributed and our story contained a response from the Israeli military saying they were unaware of the incident and that Hamas was a terrorist organisation that did not value truth, we had not made sufficient effort to seek corroborating evidence to justify reporting the Hamas claim. We apologise for this mistake," the BBC said on its official corrections and clarifications page.
The BBC has maintained that it remains "committed to providing impartial reporting" about the ongoing war.
"The conflict is a challenging and polarising story to cover. We are committed to providing impartial reporting for audiences in the UK and across the world. Our own audience research shows that BBC News is considered the most impartial provider for coverage of the conflict," a BBC spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The apology is the latest black mark for the BBC, which has raised eyebrows with inaccurate reports that erred on behalf of Hamas and Palestinians.
In November, BBC News Channel aired a report that claimed Israeli forces had descended on Al Shifa hospital in Gaza and targeted "medical teams and Arab speakers" inside.
While reports did indicate the IDF had entered the hospital, none corroborated the claim that soldiers had targeted those inside.
The error led the BBC to issue an on-air apology, retraction and a written statement.
"As BBC News covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza's main hospital, we said that 'medical teams and Arab speakers' were being targeted. This was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report," the BBC said. "We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation. We apologize for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards."
The BBC also noted that the correct version of events was broadcast minutes later, which included an apology.
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Following Hamas' invasion of Israel on October 7, the BBC repeatedly referred to the organization as "freedom fighters," "gunmen" or "militants" rather than terrorists. As the situation escalated into a war, viewers became increasingly frustrated with the news organization's refusal to use the term "terrorists," particularly after reports of Hamas' brutal actions against civilians.
The BBC eventually did an about-face and decided to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization going forward.
The BBC was also one of several new organizations, including The New York Times, the Associated Press and CNN, that rushed to report claims made by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
The Ministry in October claimed that Israel had bombed the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, resulting in 500 civilian casualties. But later reporting and intelligence briefs found the explosion was the result of a misfired rocket fired by Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian terror organization operating in Gaza. The death toll was also much lower than first reported.
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BBC senior reporter Jon Donnision reported the false claim. The network later said his speculation on the tragic event was "wrong."
Over the summer, the BBC apologized after news host Anjana Gadgil claimed that Israeli soldiers enjoy killing children. The Board of Deputies of British Jews subsequently said they were "appalled" by the BBC presenter's comments and said it was a "clear breach" of the corporation's guidelines.
When contacted by Fox News Digital at the time, a BBC spokesperson said BBC News had received comments and complaints concerning the interview. They said that while they covered the conflict in an "impartial and robust" way, the discussion fell short.
BBC CEO Deborah Turness published a blog last year that noted she "could not be prouder of the BBC’s journalists and our journalism" and responded to criticism.
"We have faced criticism and complaints that we are biased both for and against Israel, and for and against the Palestinians. We cannot afford to simply say that if both sides are criticising us, we’re getting things right. That isn’t good enough for the BBC or for our audiences. At the BBC we hold ourselves to a higher standard and rightly challenge ourselves to listen to our critics and consider what changes to make where we think that criticism is fair," Turness wrote.
"The trust of our audiences must always be our priority - and it’s important that we listen to them. We are constantly monitoring audience feedback on our coverage of this war, and it tells us audiences think the BBC remains the most impartial UK news source. Internationally, we have seen hundreds of millions of people come to BBC News for trusted information in a confusing and chaotic time," she continued. "Maintaining that trust requires constant care, thoughtfulness and an open mind as we navigate the unique set of challenges reporting on this war places in our path. And while we strive to hold true to our 100-year commitment to impartiality, we of course sometimes get it wrong."
Turness then detailed some of the corrections, and announced "some additional safeguards around how we attribute and describe sources and information in our coverage of this war."
Fox News’ Taylor Penley contributed to this report.