Focus on Gregg Wallace, Glastonbury and Gaza as BBC releases annual report

Irish Examiner

9 hours ago

The BBC is to face questions on Gregg Wallace, its Glastonbury Festival coverage and the Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary as it prepares to release its 2024/2025 annual report.
The corporation will highlight its successes over the past year and disclose the pay of its top talent, but focus is likely to be on a storm of stories about the BBC's shows and coverage of live events.
It comes after Ofcom announced it would investigate the BBC's Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary after a review found it had breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
The regulator said it had examined the BBC report and would be investigating under its broadcasting code, which states factual programmes 'must not materially mislead the audience'.
The programme was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: 'Having examined the BBC's findings, we are launching an investigation under our rule which states that factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience.'
The review, conducted by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, which is independent of BBC News, said the programme was in breach of accuracy for 'failing to disclose information about the child narrator's father's position within the Hamas-run government'.
But the review found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including breaches of impartiality, and also found no evidence that outside interests 'inappropriately impacted on the programme'.
The BBC will also face scrutiny after a total of 45 out of the 83 allegations of misconduct made against former MasterChef presenter Wallace during his time on the show were substantiated, including one allegation of 'unwelcome physical contact', in a report following an investigation into his behaviour.
On Monday, Wallace's MasterChef co-host John Torode confirmed he had a standalone allegation of racist language upheld in the same report.
He said had 'no recollection of the incident' and was 'shocked and saddened' by the allegation in an Instagram post.
In November 2024 the show's production company, Banijay UK, announced Wallace would step away from his role on the BBC cooking show while historical allegations of misconduct were investigated.
The report concluded that the 'majority of the substantiated allegations against Mr Wallace related to inappropriate sexual language and humour', adding that 'a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated'.
Also expected to be on the agenda is coverage of Glastonbury, which saw the broadcaster livestream a set by punk duo Bob Vylan, during which singer Bobby Vylan, whose real name is reportedly Pascal Robinson-Foster, led crowds in chants of 'death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)'.
Director-general Tim Davie confirmed on Monday that staff at the festival had the authority to cut the stream
Avon and Somerset Police have since launched an investigation into the group's set with the BBC issuing an apology for the live stream, and promising to no longer broadcast live acts they deem 'high risk' as they had with Bob Vylan in a pre-festival assessment.
The Ipswich-formed duo, who are completed by drummer Bobbie Vylan, are also being investigated by the Met Police for alleged comments in a video of their performance supporting Iggy Pop at Alexandra Palace in May.
In the video, Vylan appears to say: 'Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel. Death to the IDF.'
According to reports in The Times, the BBC's director of music Lorna Clarke was among a group of senior staff who have stepped back from their day-to-day roles after the broadcaster's decision to show Bob Vylan's set live.
The salary of former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker is expected to be included in the report, after he left his presenting role early following a social media row after he shared a post about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult.
Lineker, who issued an unreserved apology, was the BBC's highest-paid presenter until his departure, with the annual report for 2023/24 showing his salary to be to around £1.35 million a year.
The presenter will no longer front the BBC's coverage of the 2026 World Cup or the FA Cup next season, with his final appearance on Match Of The Day at the end of the last Premier League season.
It comes as it was announced that Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah will face questions from MPs over the documentary, Wallace, and its Glastonbury coverage.
The two will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on September 9.