Latest news with #TimDavie
Times
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Operation Save Davie is on, but one more scandal and ‘he's out'
O n Friday evening, Tim Davie was at the opening night of the BBC Proms, listening to a Mendelssohn overture that was inspired by a cave on an uninhabited Scottish island. Given the past month the BBC's director-general has had, hotfooting it from the Royal Albert Hall to that Hebridean cavern may have seemed quite appealing. Last week was the most bruising in a line of bruising weeks for Davie, who was under attack on three fronts. On Monday the BBC admitted that its documentary about children in Gaza had breached editorial guidelines; the MasterChef scandal was reignited by the release of the report into Gregg Wallace's behaviour and the subsequent sacking of his former co-host John Torode; and Davie was facing renewed scrutiny over the live streaming of antisemitic comments by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury last month.
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
AMANDA PLATELL: This is the real scandal at the heart of the BBC that we are all being manipulated into ignoring. John Torode's sacking is just a distraction
Was it coincidence that, just as the under-fire Director General of the BBC Tim Davie this week accepted a £20,000 pay increase, taking his salary to £547,000, he sacked MasterChef's John Torode for allegedly uttering a racist slur? Who knows. But as a newsman, Davie must have been aware the allegation against Torode, who has denied it and is said to be considering suing the Beeb, would get blanket press coverage.
The Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Israel's ambassador to Britain says she has ‘no confidence' in BBC's head of news following Hamas remarks
ISRAEL'S ambassador to Britain says she has 'no confidence' in the BBC's head of news following controversial remarks about Hamas. Tzipi Hotovely slammed Corporation executive Deborah Turness for insisting there is a difference between Hamas' political leadership and its military wing. 2 Ms Turness sparked a row this week when she told an all-staff call on the BBC's Gaza documentary scandal that 'we need to continually remind people of the difference'. It is despite the British government saying any distinction is 'artificial' and Hamas is a 'single terrorist organisation'. In a letter to BBC boss Tim Davie, Ms Hotovely said: 'This is an utterly outrageous position to take… it shows a shocking lack of understanding about the nature of Hamas by the head of BBC News.' She added: 'I have absolutely no confidence in Mrs Turness's ability to deal with this issue sufficiently and believe that a fundamental change is required in the approach of the BBC to address this systemic issue properly.' A BBC spokesman said earlier this week that Ms Turness was not implying that Hamas was a single terrorist organisation. They added: 'The BBC constantly makes clear on our programmes and platforms that Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK Government and others. 'We are also clear that we need to describe to our audiences the complexities of life in Gaza, including within the structure of Hamas, which has run the civilian functions of Gaza.' 2
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
BBC to roll out anti-Semitism awareness training after string of scandals
The BBC is set to introduce new anti-Semitism awareness training following a string of scandals, The Telegraph understands. Tim Davie, the director-general, has moved to reassure Jewish members of staff concerned about the corporation's culture and leadership amid allegations that it is institutionally anti-Semitic. The BBC has come under fire over 'catastrophic failures' that include the broadcasting of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set, in which the rapper chanted 'death to the IDF'. It was also criticised for airing a documentary about the war in Gaza that had prominently featured the son of a Hamas official, a family connection not disclosed to viewers at the time. The BBC's leadership is planning now to roll out expanded anti-Semitism training. Modules addressing anti-Jewish sentiment are being devised by HR specialists, insiders said. Managers may be offered further specialist training to help with decision-making around sensitive subjects. Sources said the new training material was intended to deal specifically with anti-Semitism and would be separate from courses to educate staff on the intricacies of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The BBC's coverage of the conflict, including its refusal to call Hamas 'terrorists', has eroded confidence among some Jewish members of staff. On Tuesday, The Telegraph revealed that Deborah Turness, the BBC's head of news, told staff that the Hamas government of Gaza was different from its military wing. The Government makes no such distinction and Hamas is 'proscribed in its entirety'. She made the comments in a meeting intended to reassure staff after the broadcast of the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which has now been pulled. A report found that the BBC broke its own guidelines by not disclosing that Abdullah, a boy at the centre of the documentary, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, the Hamas-run government's deputy minister of agriculture The Board of Deputies of British Jews raised concerns about Ms Turness's comments, saying the corporation 'appears to be obfuscating and minimising the BBC's failings'. Changes 'urgently needed' It said changes in the corporation's coverage of Israel and issues sensitive to the Jewish community were 'urgently needed'. The row is the latest in a series that has led to accusations that the BBC is institutionally anti-Semitic. In 2024, a letter signed by Jewish BBC employees to Samir Shah, the chairman, accused the corporation of 'gaslighting' them over concerns about anti-Semitism. It alleged that the broadcaster had 'a serious institutional racism problem'. Danny Cohen, a former BBC One controller, was among the signatories. Word of the new anti-Semitism training was welcomed by some insiders, who suggested it was a positive step to ensure staff felt comfortable and that the BBC's output and editorial decision-making were improved.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
What is the word for deaths in Gaza?
Lisa Nandy describes the BBC's failures as 'catastrophic' (Tim Davie admits 'significant failing' by BBC over Gaza documentary, 14 July), though as far as I am aware she has not disputed the accuracy of the content of Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. What adjective does she apply to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, many of them children?Richard MunroOxford What those responding to George Monbiot (Letters, 15 July) fail to grasp is that it is not about whether the target of the 'joke' is on the right or the left; it is about whether they have power and privilege or not. The 'jokes' that Monbiot described are all aimed at those who are disadvantaged in some way; that is what makes them GardnerWest Bridgford, Nottinghamshire So the two men who felled a tree have received prison sentences of four years and three months (Two men behind 'senseless' felling of Sycamore Gap tree jailed for more than four years, 15 July). They cut down a tree! When are we going to see any sentences at all for those people responsible for the deaths of 72 people, including 18 children, in the Grenfell fire?Angela SingerCambridge About 1,500 days in prison for felling a tree. Justice and value for money would be better served by the guilty men spending their next 750 weekends planting GarnerVale, Guernsey Anyone who remembers 1976 can advise the government how to end the drought – appoint a minister for drought (Thames Water announces hosepipe ban as dry weather depletes reservoirs, 14 July).Mary HuttyBath Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
