BFMTV corrects one of its publications. The CMA CGM group's news channel provided, a little before 8:30 p.m. this Thursday, November 14, 2024, a “correction” to a video posted on Europa League between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
A “correction”… on
This video, published on BFMTV's social networks and which exactly reflects the elements cited that morning on the air, explains that “this Thursday, November 7 in Amsterdam, Maccabi Tel-Aviv supporters were attacked after attending a Europa League match against Ajax“. Then begins the story of the night: “There is talk of clashes between young people and supporters of Maccabi Tel-Aviv but also of clashes with the police. Images appear on social networks after midnight. They show supporters of the Israeli club violently chased and beaten in the streets of the city“.
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After broadcasting the images of the attacks, the testimony of a “fan” of the Israeli club accredits the aforementioned facts in the video. The latter says he “vu people being hit, going into hotels and locking themselves up. People were thrown into the water (…) It was like the 1940s“, he compares. The Israeli press, relayed Adeline François, morning broadcaster for BFMTV, on November 8, “spoke of planned ambushes and even attempted kidnappings“.
The version of the photographer behind the images
Except that, BFMTV recognized yesterday in a “corrective”, “contrary to what is said in this video (distributed by Reuters, editor's note), it is indeed Maccabi Tel-Aviv supporters that we see in the images chasing people dressed in black, and not the other way around, as in 'explained the photographer behind the images“. The photographer, without further details, judged BFMTV's response https://twitter.com/iAnnetnl/status/1857161685099745727” on X.
If BFMTV had specified in the video that “supporters of Maccabi Tel-Aviv had torn a Palestinian flag from a facade and chanted provocative, insulting and hateful chants linked to the war in Gaza on the eve of the match“, the hypothesis that Israeli supporters were at the origin of this violence had never been mentioned. Let us remember that this does not mean that there was no violence against Israelis this evening -there.
Contacted by Puremédiaschannel 15 indicated that it had stopped broadcasting and amended this video subject on the air from the edition which followed its first broadcast on November 8. “By mistake“, this is the first version of the subject, the bad one, which was taken up on the channel's social networks. The editorial team noticed this yesterday and published this “correction” immediately: “As a major information player in France, BFMTV has a duty of transparency towards the general public. It is the responsibility of our channel to make a correction when errors may unfortunately occur.“, explains the channel.
“Media shipwreck”
The distribution of this video by Reuters fooled the vigilance of BFMTV, like many media in France and abroad: The “New York Times” made corrections to an article dated November 13, 2024 (another example here with France 24). And gave rise to excessive and factually false interpretations: https://twitter.com/20Minutes/status/1854803283702870400.
“What happened last night in Amsterdam was a pogrom, that is to say, people were killed, people were attacked because they were Jews.“, affirmed in the same vein Pascal Praud in “L'heure des pros” on CNews, according to comments compiled by “Arrêt sur images” in an article from November 11, entitled “Violence in Amsterdam: 24 hours of hysteria and media disaster”.
