Complaint
A listener complained comments made by the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the UK in 聽an interview on the programme were inaccurate but had gone unchallenged. 聽The ECU considered whether the programme met the requirements for due accuracy set out in the 成人快手 Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The Ambassador, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud, said in his judgment 鈥渟别迟迟濒别谤蝉鈥 with extremist views had had now 鈥渙ccupied the Israeli government鈥, which had adopted an 鈥渆xtremist absolutist perspective鈥. He also said, referring to deaths and injuries especially those affecting children, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e seen this in a conflict, certainly not in recent memory鈥. 聽The 成人快手鈥檚 Editorial Guidelines emphasise the need to ensure that content contains 鈥渟ufficient challenge or context鈥 but in the ECU鈥檚 view the Ambassador鈥檚 statements on the Israeli Government would have been understood by listeners to be an expression of his opinion, not a statement of fact. It was also clear the Ambassador was expressing his concern at the level of civilian casualties and inviting comparison, rather than offering precise statistical information.
聽Not Upheld