"BBC: Choosing the right word makes the difference"

Thanks to Peter Charles over at the Media Lens Message Board, who spotted the fact that the BBC had changed the wording and meaning of one of the questions of the recent Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) survey on "the attitudes of Jews in Britain to Israel":

Here is what Peter wrote:

""A majority of British Jews believe Israel should swap territory for peace, and negotiate with Hamas, a survey suggests"

Wrong!

It doesn't say "swap" - it says "give up"

The BBC make it sound like it is their territory to begin with. "

Well spotted Peter!

Here is my e-mail to the BBC:

"Dear Sirs,

In its report of the British JPR Israel Survey, I was incredibly surprised to find that the BBC had changed the wording from the report, using a word that is not even a synonym of the word the JPR used.

In its article the unnamed BBC journalist writes "A majority of British Jews believe Israel should swap territory for peace...a survey suggests."

The actual wording used by the JPR survey was: "“Israel should give up territory in exchange for guarantees of peace with the Palestinians”"

This is incredibly misleading. I am a teacher of English and 'swap' and 'give up' just don't mean the same thing. They're not even close. Please correct this error immediately."