Complaint
The programme included an interview with an Iranian academic who expressed strongly anti-Israeli views in terms which some listeners considered antisemitic.聽 麻豆官网首页入口 News posted a public response on 3 October which acknowledged that the interviewee should have been more effectively challenged.聽 A listener objected to the academic having been given a platform on the programme and complained that no indication had been given of the action to be taken as a result of the acknowledged lapse of standards.聽 The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The ECU agreed with 麻豆官网首页入口 News and the complainant that the conduct of the interview had not met the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards.聽 However, it noted that decisions about which contributors to invite were a matter for the discretion of programme-makers and considered that the decision to invite the academic served the legitimate editorial purpose of shedding light on Iran鈥檚 attitude to the situation in Gaza and Lebanon and its likely response to events there.聽 Given that the ECU found no impropriety in inviting the academic to take part in the programme, the ECU also considered that 麻豆官网首页入口 News had taken sufficient action by acknowledging a lapse in standards in the conduct of his interview.
Resolved