Israeli Health Official Withdraws From BBC Interview Over Accuracy Concerns

Professor Mitch Schreiber, head of Israel's National Infection Prevention Unit at the Ministry of Health, recounted an unusual incident involving a senior BBC correspondent who requested an interview for a special report on the health impacts of the situation in Gaza. Schreiber, familiar with previous BBC reports, demanded assurances that the information published would be accurate before agreeing to participate. He provided the journalist with six examples of errors, including four health-related inaccuracies and two instances of journalistic negligence, highlighting concerns about the potential real-world consequences of misinformation. Schreiber explained that even if the BBC issued corrections later, the damage caused by initial false reports could not be undone. When the correspondent declined to guarantee accuracy, the interview was canceled, and Schreiber has not heard from the BBC since. One notable example Schreiber cited was the BBC's early war report on the Al-Ahli hospital strike in Gaza, which initially claimed hundreds of deaths with no plausible alternative explanation and later was found not to have been caused by Israeli fire.