Complaint
A viewer complained that, during the procession of boats carrying the competitors along the Seine, a commentator had shown partiality towards the Palestinian team by expressing sympathy with them while making no similar remarks in relation to the Israeli team.Ìý The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
It was not a requirement of impartiality that the commentator’s remarks about the various teams should be precisely equivalent.Ìý In the ECU’s view, noting the Palestinian athletes were competing under the “dark shadow†of conflict in Gaza and wishing them well was no more an instance of bias than the commentator’s positive reflections on Israel’s Olympic history and the gold medals the team won in Tokyo.
Not Upheld