BBC Apologizes Over Coverage of Oxford Street Antisemitism Incident

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman The BBC has apologized over its coverage of an antisemitic hate incident in central London following an internal investigation.The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) investigated both a BBC website article and a broadcast report that critics said “victim-blamed” a bus full of Jewish students who were abused on London’s Oxford Street shopping district while celebrating Hanukkah.The ECU concluded that the broadcast did “not breach editorial standards” but partly upheld the complaints over lack of accuracy and impartiality.The complaints stem from a Dec.

2021 article on the BBC’s website reporting on an incident when a bus full of Jewish students celebrating Hanukkah was attacked in central London.

As the bus, which was playing Jewish music, stopped on Oxford Street a group of men approached from the sidewalk and began hitting the busy with their fists, throwing objects at it, spitting at it and shouting anti-Israeli slogans including “Free Palestine.”A video of the attack, filmed inside of the bus, circulated on social media and included the panicked response of the students inside, some of whom can be heard urging the bus driver to move the vehicle in Hebrew.Following the incident, which is being investigated by the police, the BBC published an article on its website about the attack and included the unverified claim that an anti-Muslim slur could be heard on the video.