Drs. Oren Tsur and Michael Fire part of team that analyzed BBC bias in coverage of Iron Swords War
“Using AI judiciously, we found significant and consistent framing gaps that should not appear in balanced reporting. It should be noted that while it is clear the facts themselves dictate the nature of the reporting, the gaps we found indicate a pattern of problematic framing with respect to the facts as well.”
Drs. Oren Tsur and Michael Fire were part of an international team that analyzed the BBC’s coverage of the Iron Swords War using AI and advanced analytics. The report was presented this week in London.
“Fair journalistic reporting is the lifeblood of democracy. Substantive, comprehensive, and professional reporting enables the public to understand the political reality, to discuss and make informed decisions about the issues of the day. Since journalistic reporting is an important means for understanding, therefore the duty of fair reporting is also enshrined in law, "reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality." (The Broadcasting Act in the United Kingdom),” says Dr. Tsur.
“Using AI judiciously, we found significant and consistent framing gaps that should not appear in balanced reporting. It should be noted that while it is clear the facts themselves dictate the nature of the reporting, the gaps we found indicate a pattern of problematic framing with respect to the facts as well,” he continued.
Dr. Haran Shani-Narkis, currently a post-doctoral researcher at UCL, London spearheaded the data team, working closely with Dr. Tsur and Fire. They used AI to assess the output of the BBC across television, radio, web and podcasts in the months following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The rigorous data analysis examined some 9 million words produced by the BBC in both its English-language and Arabic services.
In addition to marked sympathy for the Palestinians, the analysis found that Israel was six time more likely to be associated with war crimes than Hamas - 592 times vs. 98 times. Hamas was more likely to be referred to as a health ministry than a terror organization – 593 vs. 409.
The analysis also found that BBC Arabic’s coverage was vastly more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli.
The report recommended four steps for the BBC to undertake to claim fair and impartial reporting:
- Abandoning the myth that BBC journalists can or do leave their personal opinions at the door; only by admitting there is a problem can BBC management get a grip and find solutions.
- Implementing and enforcing a system to address breaches of Guidelines and to monitor, track and manage compliance with the BBC’s legal obligations.
- Setting targets including measurable key performance indicators (KPI) for impartiality and accuracy.
- Overhauling the Editorial Complaints Unit, making it independent of the Editorial team in the BBC, and given power to express criticism.
Drs. Tsur and Fire are members of the Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences.
