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BBC apologizes to Geldof for aid-for-weapons story

(Agencies)
2010-11-05 11:13

 

BBC ACCEPTS FALSE IMPRESSION

The BBC challenged some points made by the Band Aid Trust.

"Assignment did not make the allegation that relief aid provided by Band Aid was diverted," it said.

"However, the BBC acknowledges that this impression could have been taken from the program. We also acknowledge that some of our related reporting of the story reinforced this perception.

"The BBC regrets this and accepts we should have been more explicit in making it clear that the allegations did not relate specifically to Band Aid."

There were apologies on the broadcaster's main radio news program on Thursday morning and on its website www.bbc.co.uk.

However, an internal BBC investigation validated the "main thrust" of the original report, which was that several sources gave evidence that Ethiopian rebels had diverted money intended for famine relief and that some of it was spent on weapons.

The Ethiopian government's head of information, Bereket Simon, called for a more comprehensive apology from the BBC, which included Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people.

"I think the aggrieved party by this unfounded report was not only Bob Geldof. It was Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people as well so it is appropriate for the BBC to apologize to the Ethiopian public," he told Reuters.

Michael Grade, former head of the BBC and a Band Aid Trust trustee, criticized the broadcaster for taking so long to apologize for a story it got "horribly wrong."

Geldof, with Ultravox frontman Midge Ure, masterminded the 1984 hit song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which featured some of the biggest acts of the time, topped charts and sold millions of copies, donating the proceeds to Ethiopian famine relief.

They followed it up with Live Aid in 1985, a transatlantic concert which raised an estimated $100 million for Ethiopians.

In 2005, Geldof staged Live 8, an international series of anti-poverty gigs which reached up to three billion people over the radio, Internet and television.