BBC Accused of Spreading Fake News With Report on Trump Christian Refugee Policy

Feb 6, 2017 by

by Donna Rachel Edmunds, Breitbart:

The BBC has been accused of spreading “false news” in a recent report on the U.S. President’s promise to prioritise asylum applications from Syrian Christians.

The BBC has reported that a recent claim by U.S. President Donald J. Trump that under his predecessor, President Barack Obama, it was “almost impossible” for Syrian Christians to claim asylum in the United States was “without any factual basis”.

But according to the Barnabas Fund, a charity working on the behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide, statistics on Syrian refugees in America suggest that Trump’s statement is evidence based. The charity has called upon the BBC to apologise for the misleading statement and issue a correction. So far the corporation has failed to do so.

The BBC’s report was prompted by an interview President Trump gave to a Christian TV network, in which he confirmed that he will be altering the U.S. refugee policy to prioritise persecuted Christians.

Trump told the interviewer: “They [Syrian Christians] have been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very, very tough to get into the United States? If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian it was almost impossible.”

During the January 29 edition of News at 10, the BBC’s New York correspondent, Nick Bryant reported on Trump’s comments, saying: “In an interview with an evangelical television network [President Trump] claimed without any factual basis the old Obama policy favoured Muslims over Christians”.

But a spokesman for the Barnabas Fund said: “This sweeping assertion broadcast by the BBC was not only wholly untrue, it was also potentially damaging to tens of thousands of Syrian Christian refugees.”

Read here