PALESTINIAN campaigners have raised concerns over the way a number of major news outlets have approached coverage of events in Gaza.
The Scottish Palestinian Society (SPS) believes media organisations including the BBC, Sky and The Guardian have failed to follow “due diligence” and adhere to the ethical standards by “repeatedly promoting misleading and false narratives on Palestinians and Gaza”.
This, SPS says, has helped to distract from the Israeli onslaught on occupied Palestinians and justify Israel’s war crimes which the International Court of Justice has described as a plausible genocide.
The organisation says it plans to report the outlets to appropriate regulators.
Wael Shawish of SPS said: "Journalists have failed to uphold democratic values and have failed the besieged people of Palestine where over 42,000 people including over 16,000 children have been killed, almost 96,000 have been left injured and more than 10,000 remain missing.”
Examples outlined by SPS of “gross misconduct” include unverified claims by the IDF of Hamas beheading 40 babies.
SPS say this was widely reported as a major news story by media platforms including the BBC and the Guardian but was later discounted even by Israeli army officials.
It resulted in the public and politicians, including President Joe Biden citing the beheaded babies lies as truth months after it was exposed as false.
“False stories are being used as justification for Israel to pound Palestinians with heavy bombardment. To cut off food, water and electricity to civilians. To help normalise the terror inflicted on Palestinian men, women and children labelled as ‘terrorists’ and to make an illegal occupation’s war crimes more palatable.
“Almost a year on, news outlets continue to pass unverified accounts by Israel as credible news. Journalists, hand in hand with politicians, have helped to pave the way for the near destruction of Palestinian lives, homes, livelihoods and culture by the Israeli occupation.
“Through selective choice of words and the support garnered for Israel’s military action, the “incremental genocide” of Palestinians, as described by Jewish historian Ilan Pappe, has merely been accelerated.
“Sadly, as Israel ramps up its bombing campaign against other nations including Lebanon, Yemen and Syria, we are already seeing a repeat of similar unscrupulous and dangerous reporting.”
Other examples laid out by SPS of “harmful biased reporting” include news outlets “ignoring” news reports and testimonies by Israeli citizens of a raging battle on October 7 between Hamas gunmen and Israeli soldiers.
The BBC, Sky News and The Guardian have been approached for comment.
