Complaint
This bulletin included a report on the freeing of Qaid Farhan Alkadi, an Israeli Bedouin who had been abducted by Hamas on 7 October 2023.Β A viewer complained that it did not include a report on an air raid by Israeli forces in which a number of people had been killed, and argued that the omission reflected bias in favour of Israel.Β The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
Decisions about which stories to select for inclusion in news bulletins are fundamentally matters for the judgment of editors and do not by themselves raise issues of editorial standards.Β The air raid referred to by the complainant was one among many incidents in an ongoing conflict which resulted in fatalities, and it was not a requirement of impartiality that it should have been covered in particular news bulletins.Β The item on Qaid Farhan Alkadi showed due impartiality by reflecting differing accounts of the circumstances of his release.
Not Upheld