BBC News has once again had to issue a public apology stemming from its reporting on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Tuesday evening, the Israeli military (IDF) said it was carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas on a specified area in the Al-Shifa Hospital.
The BBC was in breaking news mode, covering the unfolding situation in Gaza, when it misreported the Israeli actions taking place within the hospital.
Monica Miller, a BBC anchor based in Singapore, was reading out a Reuters report on the breaking news situation unfolding at the hospital when she said, “At this moment, we are hearing from Reuters that Israel is saying its forces are carrying out an operation against Hamas in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital and they are targeting people including medical teams and Arab speakers…” She went on to say Israel is calling for Hamas to surrender, after which she repeated the same claim, saying, “Once again, we are hearing from Reuters that Israel says that its forces are carrying out an operation against Hamas in that hospital that we had just heard of. They are targeting Arab speakers as well as some of the medical staff there…”
The Reuters report Miller referenced quoted that the Israeli military saying that its “IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers…”
The BBC quickly issued an apology for its misreporting, saying first via a statement through its online public relations social media account that “As BBC News covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital, we said that “medical teams and Arab speakers” were being targeted. This was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report. We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation. We apologise for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards. The correct version of events was broadcast minutes later, and we apologised for the mistake on air later in the morning.”
BBC News – an apology pic.twitter.com/qLyKvzWNBx
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) November 15, 2023
During its 9 a.m. GMT broadcast hour, the network issued an on-air apology read by news anchor Lucy Grey.
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) November 15, 2023
This the latest issue the BBC has had to apologize for concerning its reporting of the Israel-Hamas war. Last month, the news organization had to apologize after its reporter, Jon Donnison, wrongly speculated that Israel fired a rocket that hit the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.