"Impartiality is out the window" at the BBC after an unfortunate typo on social media following a politician's assasination made it look like the broadcaster wanted him dead.
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed Wednesday (August 9) by an unidentified gunman while at a political rally in the country's capital of Quito.
Sharing the news on X, formerly Twitter, BBC World News tweeted 'Presidential hopefully shot dead after Ecuador rally'. The headline on the article on the BBC site was the same.
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Cue a barrage of confused comments. One bloke couldn't believe his eyes and replied: "Hopefully? That's the famous BBC impartiality out of the window then…"
Many people realised it was a typo but others seemed shocked. "What the f***? hopefully?" a second person wrote.
A third person wrote: "May want to fix this @BBCWorld team…"
The mistake remained for hours but was soon deleted and an amended tweet read 'Ecuador presidential candidate shot dead at rally'.
Almost 60,000 people saw the tweet before it was deleted.
The slain politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. He was one of eight presidential candidates for the late August election.
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The Mirror reported that he was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017.
He filed many judicial complaints against high ranking members of the Correa government.
Early accounts show that several others were injured in the attack, though authorities did not confirm how many. He was married and is survived by five children.
The killing comes amid a startling wave of violence in the South American nation, with drug trafficking and violent killings on the rise. "I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," President Guillermo Lasso said in a statement.
"Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law."
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