Complaint
The programme included an item on a forthcoming documentary in the Storyville series about the events of 7 October 2023 which drew on the testimony of survivors, CCTV, mobile phone videos and GoPro footage livestreamed by Hamas.聽 A viewer complained the item gave the inaccurate impression that Hamas had been responsible for all the fatalities on the day (whereas there was 鈥渦nequivocal evidence鈥 that a large number of them had been caused by Israeli forces), had misleadingly implied that some had been killed who had in fact been kidnapped, and had used inappropriately emotive language.聽 The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The UN report on the attack was able to establish that a total of 14 people had died from Israeli fire. 聽While it noted the presence of helicopters in the area of the Nova Festival, it could not confirm that any had fired on civilians/Israelis. 聽That total figure is supported by other reporting which described around 13 deaths at Be鈥檈ri, one of a kidnap victim at Nir Oz, and one of a man fleeing the attack on the Nova festival, shot by security forces at a neighbouring kibbutz.聽 As the ECU knew of no credible independent source which ascribed a significantly higher number of deaths to Israeli action, it did not consider the item to have been misleading in this respect.聽 The supposed implication that some had been killed rather than kidnapped arose from the phrase 鈥渨hen Hamas arrived and began to kill anyone in sight鈥 鈥 but, as this had been immediately preceded by 鈥渢he film tells the stories of those who lived, those who were taken hostage and those who died鈥, the ECU saw no scope for viewers to form the impression suggested by the complainant.聽 As to emotive language, the wording of the item seemed to the ECU entirely appropriate to a situation in which a large number of young people attending a music festival had been killed or taken hostage.
Not upheld