BBC News Amends Misleading Portrayal of Israeli Construction

Cross-posted from CAMERA’s BBC Watch
 
Sept. 23 — Earlier this week we noted that a report titled “US approves record $38bn Israel military aid deal” which was published on the BBC News website’s US & Canada and Middle East pages on September 13th presented an inaccurate and misleading portrayal of Israeli construction. As was observed at the time:

The employment of phrases such as “Israeli settlement building,” “construction of Jewish settlements” and “construction of settlements” obviously leads BBC audiences to mistakenly believe that Israel is constructing new communities rather than – as is actually the case – building homes in existing towns and villages, most of which would under any reasonable scenario remain under Israeli control in the event of an agreement.

Following communication from BBC Watch, the version of the article currently available online has now been amended. The passage which previously stated “Pro-Palestinian groups criticised the deal, saying it rewards Israel despite the ongoing construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank” now reads as follows:

Pro-Palestinian groups criticised the deal, saying it rewards Israel despite the ongoing construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The sentence which previously read “Last month, the White House warned that the construction of settlements posed a ‘serious and growing threat to the viability of a two-state solution’ to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” has also been amended:

Last month, the White House warned that the construction in settlements posed a ‘serious and growing threat to the viability of a two-state solution’ to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” (All emphases added.)

The amendments to the article can be viewed here.
 

Unfortunately, no footnote was added to explain the changes made and the continued absence of a dedicated corrections page on the BBC News website means that those who read the report in the week before it was amended will not be aware that they received inaccurate and misleading information.

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