The BBC has defended its coverage of the war in Gaza following criticism from the White House regarding its reporting of a recent incident in the region which left several dead.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the BBC had to “correct and take down” its story about fatalities and injuries near an aid distribution centre in Rafah, after updating an article’s headline with new information.
In response, the BBC stated that it has not removed its story. The corporation explained that its headlines about the incident were “updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources,” adding that this is “totally normal practice”.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Ms Leavitt addressed the incident, saying: “The administration is aware of those reports and we are currently looking into the veracity of them because, unfortunately, unlike some in the media, we don’t take the word of Hamas with total truth.”
“We like to look into it when they speak, unlike the BBC, who had multiple headlines, they wrote, ‘Israeli tank kills 26’, ‘Israeli tank kills 21’, ‘Israeli gunfire kills 31’, ‘Red Cross says, 21 people were killed in an aid incident’.
“And then, oh, wait, they had to correct and take down their entire story, saying ‘We reviewed the footage and couldn’t find any evidence of anything’.”
While she was speaking Ms Leavitt held up a document that appeared to show a social media post from X, formerly Twitter, with the different headlines.
The person who posted the headlines also posted a screenshot from a BBC live blog and wrote: “The admission that it was all a lie.”
The headline from the blog post read: “Claim graphic video is linked to aid distribution site in Gaza is incorrect.”
A BBC spokesperson said this came from the a BBC Verify online report, and not the corporation’s story about the killings in Rafah, saying that a viral video posted on social media was not linked to the aid distribution centre it claimed to show.
Ms Leavitt added: “We’re going to look into reports before we confirm them from this podium or before we take action, and I suggest that journalists who actually care about truth do the same to reduce the amount of misinformation that’s going around the globe on this front.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “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.
“Our news stories and headlines about Sunday’s aid distribution centre incident were updated throughout the day with the latest fatality figures as they came in from various sources.
“These 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.
“This is totally normal practice on any fast-moving news story.
“Completely separately, a BBC Verify online report on Monday reported a viral video posted on social media was not linked to the aid distribution centre it claimed to show.
“This video did not run on BBC news channels and had not informed our reporting. Conflating these two stories is simply misleading.
“It is vital to bring people the truth about what is happening in Gaza. International journalists are not currently allowed into Gaza and we would welcome the support of the White House in our call for immediate access.”
The corporation has faced a backlash over its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict and it emerged earlier in the year that a documentary it aired about Gaza featured the son of a senior Hamas figure.
Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone was removed from BBC iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
