Inaccuracies - accidental or deliberate

 

Fact-checking the BBC might become a new cottage industry. The BBC News website has a daily Covid-19 page. On Christmas Eve they reported on the third national lockdown in Israel and wrote, "The clampdown comes days after Israel began vaccinating the general population against the novel coronavirus." As Hadar at Camera UK notes, Israel has not begun vaccinating the general population, only healthcare workers and over-60s so far. Maybe the BBC should re-focus on getting the basic facts right first?

Of course, when it comes to Israel, inaccuracy isn't always accidental. For example, The Jerusalem Post reports today that Robert Beckford, presenting an edition of the BBC World Service religious affairs programme Heart and Soul called 'Black Jesus' (oh, yes!), repeatedly and anachronistically described Jesus as "a first-century Palestinian Jew", despite Jesus being a Galilean Jew. Mr Beckford was, of course, signalling  his 'radical' position there.