Centre pulls up BBC for its Pahalgam terror attack reporting. Here’s why

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is facing heat in India over its reportage of the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Jammu and Kashmir. Several terrorists, including at least two Pakistani nationals, had opened fire at tourists in the Baisaran meadow near the tourist spot of Pahalgam on April 22.

The massacre of innocent civilians has triggered fresh tensions between India and Pakistan, which have taken tit-for-tat measures against each other. The Pahalgam terror attack and its aftermath have caught global attention. However, the Western media’s coverage of the terror attack has been criticised in India for downplaying the severity of the tragedy.

Now, BBC has come under fire. Here’s why.

BBC faces flak for Pahalgam terror attack coverage

The Centre has taken strong objection to BBC’s reportage of the Pahalgam terror attack . The government has shot off a formal letter to BBC’s India Head, Jackie Martin, conveying India’s strong sentiments on the UK broadcaster’s Pahalgam terror attack coverage.

“A formal letter has been sent to the BBC on terming terrorists as militants. The External Publicity Division of the MEA will be monitoring the reporting of the BBC,” an official was quoted as saying by PTI.

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The government’s action comes after BBC published a report last week titled ‘Pakistan suspends visas for Indians after deadly Kashmir attack on tourists’ that drew backlash online.

Flagging the report on social media, a user said the headline sounded misleading, portraying India as the attacker.

Wow. BBC makes it sound like India killed Pakistani tourists in Pahalgam! How much lower can they fall?? @sanjeevsanyal @ARanganathan72 @authoramish pic.twitter.com/cwGbOZOhOt

— Sandipan Deb (@sandipanthedeb) April 26, 2025

The BBC report also referred to the terror attack in Pahalgam as a “militant attack".

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“Pakistan has responded with tit-for-tat measures against India as tensions soared following a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists,” it said in the story.

In a previous report, the British broadcaster referred to the attackers as “gunmen”. The headline read: ‘More than 20 killed after gunmen open fire on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.’

Western media’s problematic coverage

Western media have been accused of whitewashing the Pahalgam terror attack through their coverage.

Last week, a House Committee in the US lambasted the New York Times (NYT) for its reportage on the massacre in Kashmir.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee pulled up the American newspaper for calling the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack “militants” instead of terrorists.

Striking the word “militants” and replacing it with “terrorists” in bold red colour, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US government wrote on X, “Hey, @nytimes we fixed it for you. This was a TERRORIST ATTACK plain and simple. Whether it’s India or Israel, when it comes to TERRORISM the NYT is removed from reality.”

Several other Western media outlets, like The Guardian and The Washington Post, also referred to terrorists as “gunmen” and “militants” in their reports.

BBC’s run-ins in India

BBC has faced rebuke in India over its coverage before. In 2023, the UK broadcaster’s documentary, India: The Modi Question, was banned by the Central government.

It slammed the documentary for allegedly casting “aspersions on the authority and credibility of the Supreme Court of India, sowing divisions among various communities, and making unsubstantiated allegations regarding actions of foreign governments in India”.

BBC claimed it investigated aspects of the 2002 Gujarat riots when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.

Denouncing the two-part documentary, the then Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “The bias, the lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset, is blatantly visible. If anything, this film or documentary is a reflection on the agency and individuals that are peddling this narrative again.”

“It makes us wonder about the purpose of this exercise and the agenda behind it and frankly we do not wish to dignify such efforts,” he added.

BBC had defended its documentary, claiming it was “rigorously researched according to highest editorial standards”.

The same year, the British media outlet’s offices in Mumbai and Delhi were raided over alleged income tax irregularities.

In 1970, the Congress-led government expelled BBC from India for airing two documentaries – Calcutta, directed and produced by French director Louis Malle, and The Bewildered Giant, written by Dom Moraes.

The government had justified the clampdown, saying there has been “dissatisfaction and adverse comment in the country, in the press and in the Parliament” about the BBC which, allegedly, “portrays India, its life and culture in a tendentious and distorted manner”.

With inputs from agencies