eaglesdare
Member
- Country
England
Oh look. The White House talking utter bollocks again. Is there any gigantic whopper you don't swallow whole?
"The BBC has rejected incorrect White House criticism of its Gaza coverage, describing a claim it had taken down a story as "completely wrong".
At Tuesday's White House briefing, President Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of taking "the word of Hamas" when reporting on the number of people killed in a shooting near an aid distribution site on Sunday.
She also claimed, wrongly, that the BBC had retracted a story.
"The claim the BBC took down a story after reviewing footage is completely wrong. We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism," the BBC said in a statement.
Karoline Leavitt criticised the BBC for changing the number of casualties in the story's headline. The corporation said its coverage was updated with new figures throughout the day, which is "totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story".
The numbers were "always clearly attributed, from the first figure of 15 from medics, through the 31 killed from the Hamas-run health ministry to the final Red Cross statement of 'at least 21' at their field hospital," the statement said."
The White House has a point calling out the BBC for using Hamas run health ministry figures.
Hamas is a terrorist group with a track record of inflating casualty numbers to paint Israel as the villain. The BBCs practice of updating headlines does not excuse relying on unverified data from a terrorist organisation.
Leavitts pushback is about holding the BBC accountable for sloppy reporting in a war.