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Appeal on Panorama ‘Death in the Med’: Trust concludes programme overall was accurate and impartial but finds breaches of Editorial Guidelines

Date: 19.04.2011     Last updated: 23.09.2014 at 09.48
The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Trust has today published its consideration of an appeal relating to an edition of Panorama, ‘Death in the Med’, broadcast on 16 August 2010. The programme overall was found to be accurate and impartial, but the Trust found three specific instances where it breached the corporation’s Editorial Guidelines on either accuracy or impartiality.

The Trust received 19 appeals which raised 51 substantive points for consideration. Three of these were upheld by the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee (ESC), two in relation to accuracy and one in relation to impartiality.

Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Trust, said:

"The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú’s courageous journalism is perhaps the clearest articulation of its public service mission, and it is essential that the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is able to report on the most controversial issues of the day. But it is equally essential that it meets the very highest standards of accuracy and impartiality. By having a robust system in place to reassure licence fee payers that issues are picked up and lessons are learned, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú can have the space and credibility to make these types of programmes.â€

Alison Hastings, Chair of the ESC, said:

"Despite the three breaches, for which the Trust apologises on behalf of the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú, this Panorama was an original, insightful and well-researched piece of journalism and we commend the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú for having tackled this issue. It revealed important new evidence in a much-publicised story and, overall, the programme was both accurate and impartial. However, these breaches are a firm reminder that the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú must take great care over accuracy and impartiality, particularly when the subject matter is as controversial as this."

Death in the Med focused on the events on the night of 31 May 2010, when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla at sea attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Nine activists on board the ship, the largest in the flotilla, were killed and more than 50 passengers and nine Israeli soldiers were injured.

Ends.

Notes to editors

Full details of the ESC’s finding and the consideration of each of the 51 points of issue raised can be found at Editorial appeals findings 2011.