UK
BBC says it was ‘wrong’ for news presenter to call Hamas ‘terror group’
Describing it as such without attribution was a ‘breach of BBC editorial standards’
September 12, 2025 11:49
Describing it as such without attribution was a ‘breach of BBC editorial standards’
September 12, 2025 11:49The BBC has said it was “wrong” for one of its presenters to refer to Hamas as a “terror group” during a broadcast after a viewer of its rolling news channel complained to the corporation.
A presenter on BBC News described Hamas as “the terror group” on air in June this year, without attributing that characterisation to an external organisation or body, such as the UK Government, which designates it as such.
The national broadcaster has repeatedly said since October 7 that its editorial policy prohibits its journalists from using the word "terrorist" without attribution as it breaches impartiality rules, though in multiple instances it appears to have deviated from this approach when reporting on acts of violence.
An update published by the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) concerning the June broadcast states: “A viewer complained that the presenter referred to Hamas as ‘the terror group’, contrary to the BBC’s editorial policy.
“For reasons connected with due accuracy and impartiality, the BBC’s editorial guidelines say ‘The term ‘terrorist’ should only be used with attribution, i.e. when quoting or citing its use by others’.
“As the ECU saw no material difference in this context between ‘terror group’ and ‘terrorist group’, it found the use of the phrase complained of was a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards.”
The outcome has been reported to the management team at BBC News and was "discussed with the editorial team responsible".
This comes after the broadcaster used the word "gunmen" instead of "terrorist" when referring to the attackers who killed six people at a bus stop in Jerusalem on Monday.
In 2023, BBC world affairs editor John Simpson offered an explanation for the BBC’s aversion to the term “terrorist”, saying: "Terrorism is a loaded word, which people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally.
"It's simply not the BBC's job to tell people who to support and who to condemn – who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
"We regularly point out that the British and other governments have condemned Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but that's their business."
The JC has uncovered that on at least three occasions the BBC had seemingly broken its own guidelines, however.
A December 2019 article on the BBC News website referred to the survivors of the London Bridge and Manchester Arena attacks as "terror attack survivors", while a documentary aired in 2023 about the Manchester Arena bomber labelled him a "homegrown terrorist". In 2017 a BBC News Special on the day of the Westminster attack, described the incident as the "Westminster Terror Attack".
The BBC declined to comment further on the matter.
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