The BBC's struggle to "both sides" an illegal war of aggression against Iran

Reference CAS-8130880-D8Y3R8

 

Dear Mr Miller,

Many thanks for following up your comments about Panorama: Trump, Israel and the War on Iran. 

We're sorry you had to come back to us and can appreciate why. We always aim to address the specific points raised by our audience and regret any cases where we’ve failed to do this. The previous reply didn’t tackle the precise points you raised, and we’d like to offer you a new response here. The following should now be considered your first reply. 

You make the point about the legality of the Israel-Iran war. However, it’s not for the BBC to make a judgement about whether a war is or is not illegal. That is a decision for the courts. Our role is to give the audience the relevant information to make up their own minds. The programme reflected contrasting views on the validity of the war - we heard from representatives of Iran and Israel - so viewers could make this decision for themselves. 

We understand you were unhappy with the way the interviews with Ohad Tal and Tzipura Hotovely were conducted. Mr Tal and Ms Hotovely were allowed to speak uninterrupted; this wasn’t because we wanted to promote either of these perspectives, but simply the style of interview which we thought was most appropriate to the programme. It was also consistent with others who were interviewed for it, such as Seyed Ali Mousavi, who was putting forward the Iranian perspective. The programme aimed to give a balanced overview and presented opposing views so the audience could draw their own conclusions. We understand you disagree with the way the information was presented, but we’re happy these were appropriate and duly impartial interviews. 

We also understand you are concerned that conflict between Syria and Israel was not explored in the programme. The programme was focused on the war between Iran and Israel. Time constraints in a thirty-minute programme mean it’s not possible to include all the background information about relations between Israel and all its neighbours. Decisions about what to cover are a matter of editorial discretion for programme makers, and we’re happy the decision here was appropriate, and would not have misled the audience as to the nature of the Israel-Iran war. 

You also expressed concerns that there is no section on the BBC’s website covering Israel-Syria relations. While we’ve reflected the ongoing tensions between the two countries in our coverage, and have explored their relationship, we don’t think it’s necessary at this point to have a specific section on our website addressing this. We will of course keep this under review and pass on your comments to the relevant senior managers who look after the BBC website. 

For the reasons we’ve set out in this response, we’re happy this programme was duly impartial and accurate. We’re grateful for your feedback on it, which has been passed to the Panorama editorial team – we hope this response helps explain our position.

If you’d like to understand how your complaint is handled at the BBC, you might find it helpful to watch  the short film on the BBC Complaints website about how the BBC responds to your feedback.  It explains the BBC’s process for responding to complaints, what to do if you aren’t happy with your response and how we share the feedback we receive.

Thanks again for getting in touch.

Kind regards,

BBC Complaints Team 

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints 

 

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