Under the terms of the BBC Charter, the BBC is required to commit to due accuracy in its programming and online content. Controversial subjects must be treated with due impartiality in the BBC’s news and other output dealing with matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy.
With reference to both accuracy and impartiality, the BBC’s guidelines state: ‘The term “due” means that the accuracy must be adequate and appropriate to the output, taking account of the subject and nature of the content, the likely audience expectation and any signposting that may influence that expectation.’
The majority of complaints to the BBC about its coverage of Israel’s occupation of Palestine will be about a lack of accuracy and/or impartiality.
The BBC’s Editorial Guidelines can be read in full, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines
When making complaints to the BBC about a lack of accuracy, these are the relevant guidelines against which the broadcast or online article you are complaining about can be tested:
1.2.1 We must do all we can to ensure due accuracy in all our output.
1.2.2 All BBC output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, must be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language. We should be honest and open about what we don’t know and avoid unfounded speculation. Claims, allegations, material facts and other content that cannot be corroborated should normally be attributed.
1.2.3 The BBC must not knowingly and materially mislead its audiences. We should not distort known facts, present invented material as fact or otherwise undermine our audiences’ trust in our content.
1.2.4 We should normally acknowledge serious factual errors and correct them quickly, clearly and appropriately.
These guidelines can be found here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/accuracy
When making complaints to the BBC about a lack of impartiality, these are the relevant guidelines against which the broadcast or online article you are complaining about can be tested:
4.2.1 We must do all we can to ensure that ‘controversial subjects’ are treated with due impartiality in all our output.
4.2.2 News in whatever form must be treated with due impartiality, giving due weight to events, opinions and main strands of argument.
4.2.3 We seek to provide a broad range of subject matter and perspectives over an appropriate timeframe across our output as a whole.
4.2.4 We are committed to reflecting a wide range of opinion across our output as a whole and over an appropriate timeframe so that no significant strand of thought is knowingly unreflected or under-represented.
4.4.14 We should not automatically assume that contributors from other organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities) are unbiased and we may need to make it clear to the audience when contributors are associated with a particular viewpoint, if it is not apparent from their contribution or from the context in which their contribution is made.
These guidelines can be found here: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/pdfs/Section_04_Impartiality.pdf