BBC: When The Broadcaster Becomes The Scandal

By Olabode Opeseitan

Why are international media houses quick to amplify the crises of developing nations but slow to spotlight their progress?

Why do stories of disintegration travel faster than stories of innovation? Is it because bad news sells? Or is it part of a deeper, coded agenda to use the power of Western media to frame developing nations as perpetual failures?

The BBC recently reported that over 100 worshippers were abducted during Sunday service in Kajuru, Kaduna State. The report quoted a church leader and painted a picture of mass kidnapping. But the Kaduna State Police, the local government chairman, and community leaders have all denied the incident. They visited the alleged scene, spoke with residents, and found no evidence of an attack. No list of victims has been produced. No family has come forward. The Christian Association of Nigeria also confirmed that the report was false.

This is not a minor discrepancy. In a region where insurgents weaponize fear, a false report can do more than mislead. It can destabilize. It can provoke. It can endanger lives.

If the BBC got it wrong, it must apologize. Not quietly. Not in passing. Loudly and clearly. The same way it broke the story.

To its credit, the BBC has a history of acknowledging its mistakes. In 2023, it apologized for misreporting the Al-Ahli hospital blast in Gaza, after initially suggesting Israeli involvement without verification. In 2025, it issued a public apology after a technical error during a Gene Hackman obituary segment on BBC Breakfast led to confusion and criticism.

That same year, it pulled and apologized for a Gaza documentary after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of a Hamas official, a fact undisclosed by the producers and missed by editorial checks.

But there have been lapses without redress. During the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, BBC Africa reported casualty figures that were later disputed by multiple sources. Despite public outcry and conflicting evidence, no formal apology was issued.

The BBC is also facing a $10 billion defamation lawsuit from President Donald J. Trump. The suit alleges that a 2024 Panorama documentary spliced parts of his January 6 speech to falsely imply he incited the Capitol riots. The BBC apologized for the editing error but denies defamation and is seeking dismissal of the case in a Florida court.

The BBC is not just any media house. It is publicly funded, globally respected, and historically committed to the ethics of journalism. Truth. Accuracy. Accountability. These are not optional. They are the foundation.

In the case of Kajuru, the BBC must investigate. If the report is false, it must retract and apologize. Not for the sake of optics, but for the sake of trust.

Because when a broadcaster becomes the scandal, it loses the very thing that sustains it: credibility.

Let journalism remain a force for truth, not a tool for chaos.

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