UK news chiefs admit 'mistakes' but defend Gaza reporting

British TV news heads have admitted “mistakes” were made in their coverage of the war in Gaza, but defended their reporting at a meeting in the Houses of Parliament.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Centre For Media Monitoring (CFMM), senior executives at BBC News and Sky News said they had attempted to take on board criticism about their reporting, which pro-Palestinian groups say has been too sympathetic to Israel at the expense of the people of Gaza.

“It is a uniquely difficult story to cover and we are striving to cover the story impartially and to bring clarity to the audience but that is very difficult in a story that is highly polarised,” said Richard Burgess, director of news content at the BBC.

Responding to criticisms made by CFMM in a report launched on Wednesday, Burgess said that as a 24-hour news service it was inevitable that there would be mistakes made.

“I hope we are transparent about that when we do it,” he said. “It’s impossible not to make mistakes, we will make mistakes.”

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