Complaint
Introducing a report on Elon Musk’s claim that Donald Trump would not have won the 2024 election without his support, the newsreader referred to Mr Musk “offering voters $1m to vote Republican”. A viewer’s complaint that this was inaccurate resulted in a posting by BBC News on the Corrections and Clarifications page of the BBC website explaining that the $1m offer (as a lottery prize) was not “to vote Republican” but for those in certain swing states who registered to vote and signed a petition by Mr Musk’s campaign group America PAC, which he had set up to support President Trump. The viewer complained that this was not sufficient to rectify what he regarded as a serious libel, to the effect that Mr Musk had illegally attempted to bribe voters, and that a broadcast correction and apology in the 10pm News was required. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The ECU considered that, in the context of the report, viewers in general would have understood the newsreader’s remark as emphasising the scale of Mr Musk’s support for Mr Trump’s candidacy, not as suggesting illegality (a suggestion they might or might not have seen in the reference, depending on their knowledge of US election law), and that the Corrections and Clarifications posting was sufficient to address the inaccuracy and resolve the issue of complaint.
Resolved
