The Microscope

Is accountability a core value of the News Media and INGOs?

Harshula <harshula@themicroscope.net>

Last updated: March 5, 2021

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

In 2021, are News Media (NM) and International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) willing to be accountable for what they publish? Will they acknowledge and correct factual errors?
A decade ago Amnesty International (AI) and International Crisis Group (ICG) made some remarkably similar errors in press releases published around the same time. When this was brought to their attention, the International Crisis Group acknowledged and corrected the error. However, Amnesty International created a new press release correcting the error, without an acknowledgement, and left the old press release with the error on their website. The News Media began blindly publishing articles with the error that the two INGOs had corrected.
A decade later, has there been progress?

2 BBC

Somehow the BBC has managed to regress in the last decade!

2.1 Accurate

24 February 2012 - By Charles Haviland
“A report commissioned by Ban Ki-Moon put the death toll at up to 40,000.” [1]  [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17156686
13 November 2012 - Lyse Doucet
“An earlier UN investigation said it was possible up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final five months alone. Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.” [2]  [2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20308610
14 November 2012
“An earlier UN investigation said it was possible up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final five months alone. Other estimates say the number of deaths could be even higher.” [3]  [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20331872
18 May 2014
“The UN estimates that between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed in the civil war, which lasted 26 years.” [4]  [4] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27462326
28 October 2018
“Over the 26-year conflict, between 80,000 and 100,000 people are estimated to have died, with both sides alleged to have perpetrated war crimes.” [5]  [5] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46010487

2.2 Errors

6 July, 2011 - Udani Wimalaratne
“’40,000 civilians killed’
...
However, according to a report by the UN expert panel set up by the Secretary General, around 40,000 civilians were killed during the war in Sri Lanka.” [6]  [6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2011/07/110706_rajiva_war_crimes.shtml
5 July 2011 - Stephen Sackur
“The UN panel setup by the Secretary-General reckons that there is credible evidence that 40,000 civilians were killed in that final phase of the war.” [7]  [7] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9530778.stm [8]  [8] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdelF1R4nQI
24 February 2012 - Charles Haviland
“The death toll figure is consistent with an early United Nations estimate, but it’s much lower than the estimated 40,000 deaths given by a report commissioned by Ban Ki-Moon last year.” [9]  [9] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17156686
13 November 2012 - Lyse Doucet
“The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead.” [10]  [10] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20308610
14 November 2012
“The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead.” [11]  [11] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20331872
25 August 2013
“The UN said at least 40,000 civilians, mainly Tamils, died in the final months of the conflict between the government and Tamil rebels, which ended in 2009.” [12]  [12] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23833804
14 November 2013
“The UN estimates that 40,000 civilians were killed in the last five months of the 26-year conflict but the Sri Lankan authorities deny responsibility.” [13]  [13] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24934768
16 September 2015
“One UN estimate is that 40,000 Tamils died in the final army offensive.
...
The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead.” [14]  [14] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34266471
10 September 2018 - Anbarasan Ethirajan
“The conflict is estimated to have killed more than 100,000 people.” [15]  [15] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-45474584
22 November 2018 - Anbarasan Ethirajan
“The 26-year war between troops and separatist Tamil rebels left at least 100,000 people dead.” [16]  [16] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46295889
12 August 2019 - Anbarasan Ethirajan
“The Easter Sunday bombings happened just a month before the country observed the 10th anniversary of the end of the war with the Tamil Tigers. The conflict lasted almost three decades and it is estimated at least 100,000 people were killed. The UN and other agencies estimate that at least 40,000 people were killed in the last stages when the Sri Lankan military launched its final assault.”  [17]  [17] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48592714
29 October 2020
“An estimated 40,000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians are believed to have died in the last stages of the war, and it has been an emotive issue in Tamil Nadu, where the same language and ethnic identity are shared.” [18]  [18] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54701279
23 February 2021 - Anbarasan Ethirajan
“The UN and other aid agencies estimate that more than 40,000 people, mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community, were killed in the final stages of Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were crushed in May 2009. The UN human rights office accused both sides of atrocities during the conflict.” [19]  [19] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56156233
2 March 2021 - Anbarasan Ethirajan
“The 1983-2009 conflict killed at least 100,000 people, mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community.” [20]  [20] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56249805

2.3 Explanation

The UN Advisory Panel report about the final phases of the war states:
“134. The United Nations Country Team is one source of information; in a document that was never released publicly, it estimated a total figure of 7,721 killed and 18,479 injured from August 2008 up to 13 May 2009, after which it became too difficult to count.” [21]  [21] https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/POE_Report_Full.pdf
It then explains 7,721 should be considered a lower-bound:
“This means that, in reality, the total number could easily be several times that of the United Nations figure.” [22]  [22] https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/POE_Report_Full.pdf
Then the upper-bound is drawn at 40,000:
“Two years after the end of the war, there is still no reliable figure for civilian deaths, but multiple sources of information indicate that a range of up to 40,000 civilian deaths cannot be ruled out at this stage.” [23]  [23] https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/POE_Report_Full.pdf
Furthermore, for the entire duration of the separatist war, the UN has estimated between 80,000 and 100,000 deaths:
“The UN’s humanitarian co-ordination office says 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed in the war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.” [24]  [24] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-05-20/up-to-100000-killed-in-sri-lankas-civil-war-un/1689524
and:
“According to the UN, between 80,000-100,000 people may have been killed in the country’s civil war, including at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians killed in the last five months of the conflict.” [25]  [25] http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/27/sri-lanka-military-united-nations.html
On 12th of March 2007, the UN News Centre published:
"The UN estimates that some 70,000 people have been killed and 465,000 displaced by Sri Lanka’s more than two decade-long conflict, including nearly 205,000 uprooted since fighting escalated in April 2006 despite a ceasefire signed in 2002." [26]  [26] https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21825&Cr=sri&Cr1=lanka
The UN has estimated that between 2007 and May 2009, when the war ended, that an additional 10,000 (80,000 - 70,000) up to 30,000 (100,000 - 70,000) have died.
It is inaccurate to claim that the UN estimates that more than 40,000 people died in the final phase or that the UN estimates at least 100,000 people died during the war.

2.4 Complaint

The following complaints were submitted to the BBC:
23 February 2021
re: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56156233
“Factual errors when referring to UN statistics
re: "The UN and other aid agencies estimate that more than 40,000 people, mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community, were killed in the final stages of Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were crushed in May 2009. The UN human rights office accused both sides of atrocities during the conflict." (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56156233)
It is factually incorrect to claim that the UN estimates "that more than 40,000 people" died in the final phase. The UN Advisory Panel report estimates between 7,721 and 40,000 civilians died in the final 5 months of the war. (https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/POE_Report_Full.pdf)
A detailed explanation, including similar errors by the BBC, is available in the Report, "Is accountability a core value of the News Media and INGOs?" (http://www.themicroscope.net/sl-accountability.html)”
3 March 2021
re: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56249805
“Death toll
re: "The 1983-2009 conflict killed at least 100,000 people, mostly civilians from the minority Tamil community."
My understanding is that the official UN estimate is 80,000 to 100,000 deaths. The BBC has reported that in the past. e.g "The UN estimates that between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed in the civil war, which lasted 26 years." (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27462326)
If the BBC is not using the UN estimate, could the BBC please attribute the source for the “at least 100,000” deaths claim in news articles? Thank you.”

3 Version History