The BBC "has made a public apology over misleading comments made in a radio interview" with Zaha Hadid which suggested construction workers had died on her Qatar 2022 stadium project, according to Richard Waite of the ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. The broadcaster "has also apologised privately to the architect following a fractious exchange with presenter Sarah Montague on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme."
In a question which appeared to reference estimates by the Int'l Trade Union Confederation that "there had been 1,200 deaths on building projects in the Arab emirate in the three years to 2014," Montague said, "One of your buildings is the Qatar stadium where there have been considerable problems, not least the number of deaths."
Hadid responded, "There have not been any problems actually, I have to put you right, there has not been a single problem at the Qatar stadium."
Montague went on, "But more than 1,200 migrant workers have died there."
The architect replied, "Absolutely not true. We sued somebody for writing that, and saying that, and it had to be withdrawn from the press. It is absolutely inaccurate."
The tone of the program "sparked an outcry from architects with many taking to Twitter to voice their anger."
The BBC "has now said sorry for suggesting there had been any deaths on the al-Wakrah stadium project and posted an apology on the Radio 4 website" (AJ, 9/24).
