To download the SBS official response in PDF format, click here.

The SBS upheld the ECAJ’s complaint on SBS Arabic24 ‘Correspondent’s View’ & Arabic24 Online Headline.

The ECAJ laid a complaint about the following story on SBS radio and online: https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/arabic/en/audiotrack/ramallah-israeli-settlers-storm-al-aqsa-mosque.

As the headline indicates, this news story falsely claimed that “Israeli settlers” had “stormed” the Al-Aqsa mosque on June 2.  In fact, Jews around the world were cel­eb­rat­ing “Jerusalem Day”, the anniversary of the uni­fic­a­tion of the city in 1967.  The group were not “Israeli settlers” but Jewish visitors under police super­vi­sion. They did not enter the al Aqsa mosque at all, let alone “storm” it.  They peace­fully entered the Temple Mount area as permitted by the status quo agreement which allows for non-Muslim visitors at set visiting times.  Sub­sequently, some Palestini­ans initiated a riot after being incited by false stories that the mosque had been “stormed”.

Other media which carried that false story have corrected it: https://honestreporting.com/fanatic-jews-storm-al-aqsa-mosque-photo-captions/.

Under SBS Code of practice 2.2, SBS is similarly obliged to take reas­on­able steps to ensure the timely cor­rec­tion of sig­ni­fic­ant errors of fact. The cor­rec­tion should not only be done online but should also be broadcast in Arabic on the same radio program, with an apology.

The SBS has acknow­ledged and apo­lo­gised for two errors, and provided the following response:

I have completed an invest­ig­a­tion of the ‘Correspondent’s View’ segment from Ramallah on SBS Arabic24 radio on 3 June, and the headline and pho­to­graph accom­pa­ny­ing that content on the Arabic24 website. The content was assessed against Code 2.2 (News and Current Affairs – Accuracy, Impar­ti­al­ity and Balance) of the SBS Codes of Practice, in light of your complaint that “this news story falsely claimed that ‘Israeli settlers’ had ‘stormed’ the Al-Aqsa mosque on June 2.”

For the reasons provided below, the content was found to have breached the code require­ments for accuracy, in relation to the use of the word “settlers” in the radio segment and online, and the use of the word “storm” on the Arabic24 website.

Comments in relation to the use of the word “storm” in the online headline

The word “storm” was contained in a headline on a webpage of the Arabic24 website published on 3 June which stated “Ramallah: Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa mosque.” This headline was an unat­trib­uted quote from an AFP Arabic report which was the source of the story by SBS Arabic24 on 3 June. A copy of the AFP Arabic report is attached to this email. The English trans­la­tion of that quote is:

The director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, said that about 1,200 “settlers broke [storm] into the mosque.

Under the code there is no oblig­a­tion for a language program website which carries no SBS News iden­ti­fic­a­tion to meet the oblig­a­tions of Code 2.2. However the webpage carries the embedded podcast of the ‘Correspondent’s View’ segment, which is current affairs content, and as it was first published on the morning after the event I have applied Code 2.2, the accuracy pro­vi­sions of which state:

SBS is committed to achieving the highest standard of news and current affairs present­a­tion. To this end, reas­on­able effort must be made to ensure that the factual content of news and current affairs programs is accurate, having regard to the cir­cum­stances, and facts known, at the time of preparing and broad­cast­ing or pub­lish­ing the content.

The headline that concerned you is accom­pan­ied by a photo on the Arabic24 webpage showing Israeli nation­al­ists walking past the Al-Aqsa mosque. The caption to the photo states “Israelis walk by the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jer­u­s­alem’s old city” and this provided some context to the reporting of the event. Nev­er­the­less, the unsourced and unqual­i­fied headline failed to meet the accuracy pro­vi­sions of Code 2.2.

Con­sid­er­ing the cir­cum­stances on the day, if the program wanted to use this quote it needed to be attrib­uted. The quote appar­ently referred to the psy­cho­lo­gic­al effect of the Jerusalem Day march on the Muslim wor­ship­pers at the Al-Aqsa mosque, and not to the conduct of the Israeli marchers. The SBS World News bulletin of 3 June carried an interview with the Al-Aqsa Mosque Director, Omar al- Kiswani, who said in relation to the march:

They carried out a pro­voc­at­ive tour, they sang and laid on the ground, those acts trigger emotional responses from Muslims around the world.

This reaction was similarly reflected on 2 June in the Haaretz newspaper when it reported that:

Jordan’s Minister of Islamic Affairs and Holy Sites, Abdul Nasser Musa Abu Al Basal, issued a statement con­demning Israel’s “aggres­sion against those at prayer,” saying it negated inter­na­tion­al law and etiquette.

The need for attri­bu­tion was increased as the Arabic phrase “aiq­ta­hamuu almasjid” has two inter­change­able meanings either “break into” or “storm.” In the absence of such attri­bu­tion the quote would have been under­stood literally. The marchers did not literally storm the mosque as the pho­to­graph on the website shows.

Comments in relation to the accuracy of the word “settlers”

From reports in the Israeli media the marchers appear to have been comprised of a variety of Israelis, not all of whom would be settlers.

SBS News online used the headline “Israeli Nation­al­ists Mark Jerusalem Day” to described the event, and SBS World News described the marchers as “ultra-nation­al­ists.”

A NAATI accred­ited trans­la­tion of the ‘Correspondent’s View’ report from Ramallah on 3 June was obtained. It shows that the term “settlers” was used once by the SBS journ­al­ist and four times by the Ramallah cor­res­pond­ent to refer to the marchers.

This reference to “settlers” was how the marchers were described by the Arab news media on the day, including by Al Jazeera. However, for the reasons provided above, such a reference to the marchers was inac­cur­ate. The Israelis marched to com­mem­or­ate the reuni­fic­a­tion of Jerusalem in 1967 and were accur­ately described by SBS World News and SBS News online as “nation­al­ists.”

SBS apo­lo­gises for this breach of the code.

The Director of Audio and Language Services, Mandi Wicks, has reminded the Arabic Language Program of the need for accuracy in reporting, and for attri­bu­tion in cir­cum­stances where a person of standing is providing their analysis of events.

The content has been removed from the SBS Arabic24 website.

If you consider this response to be inad­equate in relation to the ‘Correspondent’s View’ segment, then you are entitled to take your concerns to the Aus­trali­an Com­mu­nic­a­tions and Media Authority. SBS appre­ci­ates you taking the time to make your concerns known to us and is pleased to have had the oppor­tun­ity to respond to them.

Contact
Peter Wertheim AM | co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au