The UK’s media regulator said its investigation into the BBC’s coverage, which prompted complaints from parties including the Deputies Council of British Jews and the chief rabbi, found the company did not follow its own guidelines for reporting news with “due accuracy and precision and due impartiality”. The incident, which happened on November 29 last year, involved a group of around 40 young Jews on a Hanukkah party bus traveling along London’s Oxford Street being attacked by a group of men who swore, made obscene gestures and threw a shopping cart in their. In its coverage, the BBC said a recording made during the incident included an anti-Muslim rant from inside the bus. “Our investigation revealed significant editorial failings in the BBC’s reporting of an anti-Semitic attack on Jewish students traveling on a bus in London,” Ofcom said in a statement. “BBC reports claimed that a recording made during the incident included anti-Muslim slurs – which he later changed to a singular ‘whistle’ – coming from inside the bus. Shortly thereafter, he received evidence that cast doubt on this interpretation of the sound.” Ofcom said the BBC failed to “immediately acknowledge” that the recording was disputed and did not update the online news article to reflect this for almost eight weeks. The media regulator said that during this period the BBC was aware that the content of the article was causing “significant distress and anxiety” to the victims of the attack and the wider Jewish community. “This, in our view, was a significant failure to adhere to editorial guidelines for reporting news with due accuracy and due impartiality,” Ofcom said. Ofcom also investigated a report on the incident, which was broadcast on BBC London News. The regulator said that given the information available at the time of broadcast, the program did not breach the UK Broadcasting Code. However, Ofcom added: “The BBC made a serious editorial misjudgment by not mentioning on air, at any point, that the claim it had made about anti-Muslim smears had been challenged, once new evidence emerged. This failure to respond promptly and transparently created an impression of defensiveness by the BBC to the Jewish community.” Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Ofcom said it will also look into how the broadcaster dealt with the complaint, its handling and transparency issues arising from the incident. The media regulator’s investigation followed an investigation by the BBC’s complaints unit, which concluded that both the online and TV story “did not meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy”. In January, the BBC issued an apology and confirmed it had amended the story on its website and also issued a clarification on the TV report. “While Ofcom found that our report did not breach the Broadcasting Code, the BBC’s complaints unit decided in January this year that more could have been done earlier to recognize differing views about what could be heard on the recording of the attack. said a BBC spokesperson. “The BBC apologized at the time for not acting sooner to highlight that the content of the recording was disputed.”
