BBC pulls Gaza medics documentary due to impartiality concerns
The BBC says it has decided not to broadcast a documentary about doctors working in Gaza, due to impartiality concerns it has surrounding the production.Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was commissioned by the BBC but produced by an independent production company. It was originally scheduled for broadcast in February, but has not yet aired on any BBC outlet.In a statement, the BBC said it was "determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly". BBC News has contacted production company Basement Films for comment. Its founder Ben de Pear said earlier this week the BBC had "utterly failed" and that journalists were "being stymied and silenced".
The BBC said it was "transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films".BBC News understands the decision to shelve the documentary was taken on Thursday, following public comments by De Pear at the Sheffield Documentary Festival, and another of the film's directors, journalist Ramita Navai, who appeared on Radio 4's Today programme discussing the war in Gaza.A different documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was pulled from iPlayer earlier this year after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack - also known as Gaza: Medics Under Fire - is said to examine the experiences of Palestinian medics working during the war in Gaza.The film is directed by Karim Shah, Navai and De Pear, a former editor of Channel 4 News.
In a statement on Friday, the BBC said it had commissioned the documentary over a year ago, but paused the film in April, "having made a decision that we could not broadcast the film while a review into a separate Gaza documentary was ongoing". "With both films coming from independent production companies, and both about Gaza, it was right to wait for any relevant findings – and put them into action – before broadcasting the film."However, we wanted the doctors' voices to be heard. Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published."For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms."Yesterday [Thursday], it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions. We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC."The corporation added that, contrary to some reports, the documentary had "not undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast sign-off processes", adding: "Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film."It continued: "We want to thank the doctors and contributors and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially."
Speaking at the Sheffield Documentary Festival on Thursday, before the decision was announced, De Pear specifically blamed director general Tim Davie for refusing to air the film."All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists, they were taken by Tim Davie," he claimed while taking part in a panel, as reported by Broadcast."He is just a PR person. Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making."He added: "The BBC's primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it's failing on that it doesn't matter what drama it makes or sports it covers. It is failing as an institution. And if it's failing on that then it needs new management."Something needs to happen because they are making decisions from a PR defensive point of view rather than a journalistic one. If you make a decision on a journalistic basis you can defend it, but if you make it on a PR basis, you can't."In relation to the war, De Pear claimed staff at the BBC "are being forced to use language they don't recognise, they are not describing something as it clearly is [for fear of impartiality] and it's tragic".Responding to De Pear's comments, a BBC spokesperson said the BBC "totally reject[s] this characterisation of our coverage"."The BBC has continually produced powerful journalism about this conflict. Alongside breaking news and ongoing analysis, we have produced original investigations such as those into allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners and Israel's use of bunker buster bombs and in-depth documentaries including the award-winning Life and Death in Gaza, and Gaza 101."
High-profile figures such as actress Susan Sarandon and presenter Gary Lineker have previously accused the corporation of censorship over the delay.An open letter, which was also signed by cultural figures such as Dame Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake, Juliet Stevenson and Mike Leigh, said: "This is not editorial caution. It's political suppression.""No news organisation should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling," it continued. "This important film should be seen by the public, and its contributors' bravery honoured."
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
BBC statement about Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
BBC News is determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly. Over a year ago we commissioned Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, a documentary about the plight of medics in Gaza, from an independent production company, Basement Films. We paused production of this film in April, having made a decision that we could not broadcast the film while a review into a separate Gaza documentary was ongoing. With both films coming from independent production companies, and both about Gaza, it was right to wait for any relevant findings – and put them into action – before broadcasting the film. However, we wanted the doctors' voices to be heard. Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published. For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms. Yesterday it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions. We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC. Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world's most trusted broadcaster. Therefore, we are transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films. Contrary to some reports, since we paused production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack in April, it has not undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast sign-off processes. Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film. The BBC has produced powerful coverage of this conflict. Alongside breaking news and ongoing analysis, we have produced award winning documentaries such as Life and Death in Gaza, and Gaza 101. We have also investigated allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners and Israel's attacks on Gaza's hospitals. Just today we are running a powerful piece of longform journalism that captures the final two weeks inside a Gaza hospital before it was forced to close. We want to thank the doctors and contributors and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
BBC axes new Gaza film
The BBC has pulled a Gaza documentary after its producer took aim at director-general Tim Davie. The broadcaster was forced to apologise in February after being accused of airing a 'propaganda' film, which contained contributions from the son of a leading Hamas minister. BBC bosses have now dropped another planned Gaza film. The decision came after the head of Basement Films, the film's production company, branded Mr Davie a 'PR person' who could not be trusted to make editorial decisions. The BBC had initially delayed the release of the film, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, while it conducted a review into the disastrous release of its previous Gaza documentary. Ben de Pear, the Basement Films boss, claimed that this delay was decided from a 'PR defensive point of view, rather than a journalistic one', and that the BBC 'stymied' journalists. He had been speaking at the Sheffield DocFest on Thursday. The BBC's decision also came after Ramita Navai, the documentary's director, also made comments on the Today programme. She said during the segment that 'Israel has become a rogue state that's committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing and mass-murdering Palestinians '. It is understood that this partisan view from the filmmaker may have compromised the documentary being presented as an impartial production. A statement from the BBC released on Friday said: 'For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms. 'Yesterday [Thursday], it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions.' The BBC added that 'broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC'. The release of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack had been paused following outrage over the BBC's decision to air the previous film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a documentary created by production company Hoyo. The broadcaster removed the film from iPlayer after days of criticism over its featuring of children linked to Hamas. The BBC also issued an apology after it was revealed that a major contributor to the programme was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a Hamas minister. This link was not disclosed to viewers. The BBC said it was not aware of the Hamas link, while Hoyo later claimed the BBC was aware. The BBC faced pressure to release the delayed documentary about doctors in Gaza, and Mr Davie was urged to air the film in an open letter signed by 600 signatories, including Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson. They claimed the delay was ' political suppression '. It is understood that no such concerns have been raised about Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, and the BBC said: 'We want to thank the doctors and contributors, and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially.' The rights to the film will now revert back to Basement Films, which will be free to screen the feature.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
BBC shelves Gaza medics documentary over impartiality concerns
The BBC has scrapped plans to show a documentary about medics in Gaza after concluding it 'risked creating a perception of partiality' over the corporation's coverage of the conflict. In the latest controversy over the BBC's coverage of the war, it announced that discussions over how to broadcast the film, or incorporate some of its footage into its news coverage, had 'reached the end of the road'. It said it was now transferring ownership of the project to the independent production company who produced it. Anger and frustration had been building for months over the status of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, with some involved in the film believing it was originally due to be broadcast at the start of the year. There have been concerns that some of those featured in the programme could withdraw their support over the delays. The BBC formally paused its broadcast after an investigation was launched into the making of another documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone. That programme was pulled from iPlayer earlier this year after it emerged that its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official. The review into its production continues. However, the BBC said that after attempting to find other ways of using parts of the medics programme, produced by the independent Basement Films, it had now concluded there were impartiality concerns and it would no longer be shown by the broadcaster. 'We wanted the doctors' voices to be heard,' the BBC said in a statement. 'Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published. For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms.' It added: 'Yesterday it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions. We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC. Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world's most trusted broadcaster.' It also challenged claims the film had ever undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast signoff processes. 'Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film,' it said. The decision comes after the founder of Basement Films, Ben de Pear, took aim at the BBC during a documentary festival this week, saying BBC journalists were being 'stymied and silenced'. He directly criticised the BBC director general, Tim Davie, whom he described as 'a PR person'. 'All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists; they were taken by Tim Davie,' he said. 'Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making. 'The BBC's primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it's failing on that, it doesn't matter what drama it makes or sports it covers. It is failing as an institution. And if it's failing on that, then it needs new management.' The decision also follows an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today programme by one of the journalists involved in the documentary, Ramita Navai, in which she described Israel as 'a rogue state that's committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing, and mass-murdering Palestinians'. Challenged about her statement by the presenter Amol Rajan, who said that it was her opinion, she said it 'isn't my opinion' and that she had collected evidence during her work on the documentary. The BBC said it had produced 'powerful coverage' of the Gaza war, including documentaries. 'We have also investigated allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners and Israel's attacks on Gaza's hospitals,' it said. 'We want to thank the doctors and contributors and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially.'
