BBC's Gaza documentary film-maker claims he's fighting ‘misinformation'
The film-maker behind a controversial BBC documentary about Gaza has vowed to fight 'misinformation and lies' with his future films.
Jamie Roberts stressed the importance of 'factual stories' as he collected a Bafta award on Sunday night for directing a documentary about the war in Ukraine.
He previously directed and produced the contentious documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which failed to disclose that its narrator was the son of a senior Hamas official.
The BBC removed the film from iPlayer amid a backlash, admitting 'serious flaws' in its production, and announced an internal investigation.
Mr Roberts said he was confident he would be able to continue making films after the BBC concluded its investigation. He did not comment on the inquiry when asked in the winners' room after collecting the award.
'I'm confident we'll be able to keep making films telling important stories. I can't talk about the inquiry at the moment,' he said.
The film-maker took home the award for best Single Documentary for directing Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods, which portrays the lives of Ukrainian soldiers on the front line as filmed by them.
He said: 'It's really important. I mean, I think just factual stories, issues like Ukraine, like Gaza, healthcare in the UK, all these things that sometimes people might find dull or boring.
'It's important to try and make films that cut through to be able to tell these stories, because I think it's important we know what's happening in the world, especially with so much misinformation and lies.
'The narrative in Ukraine, with the Russian war is being argued over, so to be able to see what's happening through people's eyes that are on the ground there is important otherwise you can be misled.'
He said winning the award felt 'surreal'.
The review into the Gaza documentary is being led by Peter Johnston, the BBC's editorial complaints chief, who has interviewed staff and the team behind the film.
It will look at alleged errors including the payment of £790 by an independent production company, Hoyo Films, to the family of Abdullah al-Yazouri, the film's teenage narrator and son of a Hamas government minister.
Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, has told Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, that it will step in if not satisfied with the internal investigation.
It comes after The Telegraph revealed that the BBC is to appoint an independent figure to investigate allegations of anti-Semitism on its Arabic channel.
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