French Public Radio Station Ripped for ‘Fake News’ Report Claiming IDF Destroyed Palestinian COVID‐19 Treatment Facilities
by Algemeiner Staff
The government body that regulates electronic media in France has warned one of the country’s largest public radio stations that it must feature a balance of views in its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The announcement on Thursday from the regulatory body, the CSA, followed a protest from a member of parliament concerning a report broadcast last April on France Inter, a popular public radio station, that claimed the Israeli military had destroyed medical equipment destined for Palestinian Authority hospitals battling the spread of coronavirus.
In a letter to French lawmaker Meyer Habib — who denounced the entire report as “Fake News” — the CSA acknowledged that “given the differing interpretations of the reported facts, it would have been necessary to inform listeners that the expression of the different points of view was assured.”
The CSA told Habib it had “warned” Radio France — France Inter’s parent broadcaster — about the importance of fair and accurate reporting of the conflict.
Habib had originally taken the broadcaster to task for its April 23 report, pointing out in a letter of protest that its correspondent in the Palestinian city of Ramallah had “spoken exclusively with anti-Israel activists.”
Rappel à l’ordre de @radiofrance par le @csaudiovisuel pour une Fake News anti- Israël, relayée par @franceinter. https://t.co/KCsAq5vlOi pic.twitter.com/07Lge9vJbp
— Meyer Habib (@Meyer_Habib) September 3, 2020