Susan Sarandon, Mike Leigh & Harriet Walter Sign Letter Urging BBC To Stop 'Censorship Of Palestinian Voices' & Air ‘Gaza: Medics Under Fire' Doc
The documentary has been delayed while the BBC investigates events surrounding a separate show, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, after that show was pulled due to links between one of the narrators and Hamas.
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Gaza: Medics Under Fire was created by a team including ex-Channel 4 news boss Ben de Pear and the team said last week that the screening had been delayed.
Today's letter, which is also signed by Channel 4 News International Editor Lindsay Hilsum, Game of Thrones star Indira Varma and actor Miriam Margolyes, said: 'It's hard not to conclude that the BBC's gatekeeping is rooted in racism. The message is clear: Programmes about the ongoing genocide, told from Palestinian perspectives, are held to a different standard.'
'The BBC continues to demonstrate bias in its reporting and coverage of events in Gaza, raising continued concern and criticism about the balance and impartiality of its journalism in this region,' it added.
The letter, which was organized by a group calling itself UK Screen Industry along with the Britain Palestine Media Centre, called on BBC Director General Tim Davie to immediately 'broadcast the unreleased documentary.' The BBC has been contacted for comment.
The Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone review kicked off in Feb and is yet to report back. At the time it was commissioned, the BBC revealed that the producers were aware of the narrator's links to Hamas and would be investigating further.
At last night's BAFTAs, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone director and producer Jamie Roberts, who has been in hot water over that doc, won an award for a separate show about Ukraine.
The letter in full
Dear Director-General Tim Davie,
Over 600 prominent figures—including Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon, Frankie Boyle, and Channel 4's Lindsey Hilsum—have signed an open letter urging the BBC to air Gaza: Medics Under Fire. Among them are 130 anonymous signatories, including more than a dozen BBC staff.
We write to you again with deep concern about the censorship of Palestinian voices – this time, medics operating in unimaginable conditions in Gaza.
The BBC continues to demonstrate bias in its reporting and coverage of events in Gaza, raising continued concern and criticism about the balance and impartiality of its journalism in this region.
It has repeatedly delayed the broadcast of Gaza: Medics Under Fire, a documentary made by Oscar-nominated, Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmakers, including Ben de Pear, Karim Shah and Ramita Navai.
Health Workers 4 Palestine have said in their statement:
'The health workers featured in this documentary have witnessed countless colleagues being killed, and have risked their lives not only to care for their patients, but to document and expose the relentless targeting by Israel of healthcare infrastructure and personnel.'
We stand with the medics of Gaza whose voices are being silenced. Their urgent stories are being buried by bureaucracy and political censorship.
This documentary was scheduled to air in January but has since been indefinitely delayed. It has undergone rigorous editorial scrutiny. It has been fact-checked and signed off repeatedly, and yet the BBC refuses to set a broadcast date.
This is not editorial caution. It's political suppression. The BBC has provided no timeline, no transparency. Such decisions reinforce the systemic devaluation of Palestinian lives in our media.
It's hard not to conclude that the BBC's gatekeeping is rooted in racism. The message is clear: Programmes about the ongoing genocide, told from Palestinian perspectives, are held to a different standard.
If the voices of Palestinian doctors aren't considered credible—just as the voices of Palestinian children were previously dismissed—then whose voices does the BBC consider legitimate?
The production company, Basement Films, has said:
'We gathered searing testimony from multiple Palestinian doctors and health care workers…We are desperate for a confirmed release date in order to be able to tell the surviving doctors and medics when their stories will be told.'
Every day this film is delayed, the BBC fails in its commitment to inform the public, fails in its journalistic responsibility to report the truth, and fails in its duty of care to these brave contributors.
We demand a release date for Gaza: Medics Under Fire—NOW.
No news organisation should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling. This important film should be seen by the public, and its contributors' bravery honoured.
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