BB
In their defence, that number seemed to come from a source in Whitehall, and the BBC certainly won't the only ones to quote that number of deaths. It might have been an idea to hold back on giving a number until it had been officially confirmed, but when others are saying that there are three dead, you run the risk of being accused of being slow of reporting the facts.
Thats a shame if it came from Government, I had only been checking Sky and BBC most the afternoon and Sky never once had any deaths mentioned.
I can't remember if Sky News said anything explicitly on air, but IIRC, on Twitter, a correspondent quoted an anonymous Whitehall source as saying three deaths. BBC News & LBC News also quoted this number (presumably from the same source). All issued corrections once the Whitehall source rectified the number down to one.
EDIT: I agree with your point that it was disappointing that an inaccurate was released and circulated for hours before an accurate figure was released. However, I think it's important to acknowledge that the BBC weren't the only ones.
Im quite disappointed in the BBC for having '3 dead' on their homepage for a few hours today, when seemingly thankfully no one has died (apart from the attacker). I guess journalism also died today.
In their defence, that number seemed to come from a source in Whitehall, and the BBC certainly won't the only ones to quote that number of deaths. It might have been an idea to hold back on giving a number until it had been officially confirmed, but when others are saying that there are three dead, you run the risk of being accused of being slow of reporting the facts.
Thats a shame if it came from Government, I had only been checking Sky and BBC most the afternoon and Sky never once had any deaths mentioned.
I can't remember if Sky News said anything explicitly on air, but IIRC, on Twitter, a correspondent quoted an anonymous Whitehall source as saying three deaths. BBC News & LBC News also quoted this number (presumably from the same source). All issued corrections once the Whitehall source rectified the number down to one.
EDIT: I agree with your point that it was disappointing that an inaccurate was released and circulated for hours before an accurate figure was released. However, I think it's important to acknowledge that the BBC weren't the only ones.
Last edited by BBI45 on 26 June 2020 10:03pm
NC takes C's output, WN Pres takes Studio L's output (the World Service TV "Ironing Board" studio), and Newsnight gets ready in E at 1830... All the studios have their own gallery.
