logo
BBC News executive says it ‘failed' to ask right questions on Gaza documentary

BBC News executive says it ‘failed' to ask right questions on Gaza documentary

Rhyl Journal14-07-2025
It comes after a report looking into the documentary, which was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of a Hamas official, found that it breached BBC editorial guidelines on accuracy.
The review, published on Monday, was conducted by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews which is independent of BBC News, and found that 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'.
It did not, however, find any other breaches of editorial guidelines, including breaches of impartiality, and also found no evidence that 'outside interests' 'inappropriately impacted on the programme'.
Speaking on BBC's Radio 4 World At One programme, Deborah Turness, chief executive of BBC News said: 'Our current affairs teams, day in, day out, week in, week out, are creating and pushing out incredibly controversial, difficult, complex documentaries.
'We have really good, best in class systems in place, but in this we failed, and we must put in place new processes which will enable us to continue with our courageous journalism with confidence.'
She also added: 'It's about accountability. And I think what you can see today is that the BBC has taken this incredibly seriously. We have led a full and thorough investigation, which we are publishing full and transparently.
'Everything is out there, and we share the action plan that we're now putting into place to prevent this kind of mistake happening again.
'We are responsible for everything that we publish and everything we broadcast. We take it incredibly seriously, and we didn't run those questions to ground.'
Ms Turness also addressed a second Gaza documentary, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, which was originally commissioned by the broadcaster from an independent production company called Basement Films.
However, the corporation delayed airing it until the review into Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone was released.
The documentary, which includes witness accounts from frontline Palestinian health workers in Gaza and documents attacks on hospitals and clinics, was later pulled entirely and aired on Channel 4 earlier this month.
Ms Turness said: 'We want to tell the stories of Gaza. We are telling the stories of Gaza.
'We've got long form projects in the pipeline. We are covering Gaza, and we're covering it with courage and without fear or favour.
'During that production, the BBC raised concerns around the social media activity of one of the journalists. Obviously, we are incredibly protective and conscious of our impartiality and our very high standards of impartiality, and we were concerned about the activity of the journalist concerned.
'We decided, in the light of those concerns, that we would pause broadcast of that documentary while waiting to see what the Peter Johnston report would bring us.
'The film company weren't happy with that pause, and they wanted the journalism to air sooner. So we were trying to find a way around that, trying to find a way without airing the documentary, to put the journalism and the voice of the doctors on our platforms.
'And then came a moment where the lead journalist went on the Today programme to talk about Israel's attacks on Iran and used language around Israel that was really not compatible with the BBC standards of impartiality and made it impossible for us to continue with the project.
'It was very difficult to imagine that it could meet the BBC standards of impartiality, and that it would have created at least a perception of partiality, had we aired it.
'And the right thing to do at that time was to walk away, because no BBC journalist could have said what that journalist said on air, and therefore we have to apply some of the same standards to those who work with us from the outside.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lammy handing Hamas a get-out card is an utter disgrace
Lammy handing Hamas a get-out card is an utter disgrace

Telegraph

time12 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Lammy handing Hamas a get-out card is an utter disgrace

To listen to David Lammy being interviewed by the BBC, it is as though the Islamist death cult known as Hamas bears absolutely no responsibility for the ongoing tragedy in Gaza. In the parallel universe occupied by our Foreign Secretary, it is seemingly not Hamas that started the war in Gaza by carrying out the worst massacre in Israel's history or bears responsibility for failing to agree a lasting ceasefire. It is not the terrorists who are to be blamed for disrupting the aid supply lines that are essential to preventing a humanitarian disaster. Instead, Lammy believes that the enduring catastrophe that has engulfed Gaza since the October 7 attacks in 2023 is the fault of the Israeli government and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Commenting after the UK had joined 27 other countries, including Canada, France and Australia, in issuing a statement condemning Israel for depriving Palestinians in Gaza of their 'human dignity', Lammy's hyperbole knew no bounds as he declared he was 'sickened, appalled' by Israel's conduct and its 'grotesque' targeting of starving Palestinians. Lamenting the fact that the UK had neither the power nor influence to end the conflict, he warned he was prepared to impose further sanctions against Israel if hostilities did not end soon. Throughout this seemingly endless anti-Israel diatribe on the BBC, at no point did Lammy make any reference to Hamas, and the pernicious role the group has played in wilfully disrupting aid supplies to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. There was no condemnation of the campaign of tyranny Hamas continues to exercise over Gaza's civilian population, nor any mention of freezing the assets of the wealthy Hamas terrorist masterminds holed up in Qatar. This is despite mounting evidence that the Iranian-backed terrorist group is deliberately exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the enclave for its own propaganda purposes. Hamas has been accused of targeting Palestinian civilians trying to obtain food and medical supplies provided by the US-sponsored Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This is an aid organisation set up as an alternative to the UN-sponsored UNWRA, whose humanitarian efforts have been compromised by their links to Hamas. Videos are circulating online showing Hamas terrorists rounding up recipients of US aid, with some of them being tortured and killed. Meanwhile Israeli officials have released evidence that suggests that, far from blocking supplies, Israel has allowed 950 trucks to cross into Gaza to deliver aid, and the reason it has not been distributed is because too many of the UN-sponsored aid agencies are too busy criticising the Israelis to bother collecting it. In an active war zone like Gaza it is difficult to verify these conflicting narratives. But, at the very least, it is incumbent on the UK and other Western governments to try to bring some semblance of balance and proportion to highly inflammatory allegations, such as the claim that Israel is deliberately causing mass starvation among Palestinian civilians. This is clearly beyond Lammy's diplomatic skill set, with the Foreign Secretary apparently more interested in virtue signalling to Labour's hard-Left anti-Israel lobby than making any coherent effort to address the broader, and more complex, challenges raised by the Gaza crisis. By doing so, he is essentially propagating the same twisted anti-Israel agenda promoted by supporters of Palestine Action, the direct action group that Lammy and his ministerial colleagues have just proscribed as a terrorist organisation. No wonder the Israelis have responded to the latest international condemnation of their actions by Lammy and Co as being 'disconnected from reality'. If Britain and its co-signatories are genuinely committed to an 'unconditional and permanent ceasefire' in Gaza, as the statement insists, then they should concentrate their efforts on forcing Hamas and its backers in Iran to acknowledge the inevitable, and accept that the terrorist organisation's continued presence in Gaza must end. One of the biggest obstacles to the Trump administration's attempts to broker a lasting ceasefire in Gaza has been Hamas's determination to maintain operations in Gaza, irrespective of the scale of the defeat they suffer at the hands of the Israelis. If Hamas emerges from the conflict with just a fraction of its pre-war terrorist infrastructure intact, it will hail the achievement as a major victory. Israel, like any other country that has suffered atrocities on the scale committed on October 7, insists there will be no peace in Gaza so long as Hamas remains an active presence in the enclave. Allowing Hamas to retain any vestige of influence in the territory would simply place the Israeli people at risk of suffering yet another cataclysmic terrorist attack, which is why Netanyahu is so insistent that there can be no peace in Gaza so long as Hamas remains. The key to implementing a lasting ceasefire in Gaza is not indulging in more, utterly pointless, anti-Israel Lammyesque stunts. It is forcing Hamas and its backers that its reign of terror in the enclave is well and truly over.

Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood
Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood

South Wales Argus

time15 minutes ago

  • South Wales Argus

Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood

The Mayor of London said that the UK 'must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing', as aid groups have warned of starvation in the Gaza Strip. It comes as the Archbishop of York labelled the situation in Gaza a 'a stain on the conscience of the international community'. Smoke rises after an explosion during Israeli air and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel (Leo Correa/AP) More than 100 organisations including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'. 'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death,' the letter said. In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Labour mayor Sir Sadiq said pointed to 'starving children searching hopelessly for food in the rubble' and 'family members being shot dead by Israeli soldiers as they search for aid'. 'The international community – including our own Government – must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing and let vital life saving aid in,' he added. Sir Sadiq went on: 'The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine.' Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said that the mayor should 'should spend less time trying to play on the world stage' and 'focus on fixing his own mess in the capital'. Meanwhile the current most senior bishop in the Church of England has branded the infliction of 'violence, starvation and dehumanisation' on the people of Gaza by the Israeli government 'depraved and unconscionable'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has hinted that Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire (James Manning/PA) Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell welcomed the UK and other nations' recent condemnation of the Israeli and US-backed current aid delivery model, which has reportedly resulted in Israel Defence Forces troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions, but insisted there is 'no time to wait' for further action to be taken to 'stop this ongoing assault on Gaza'. He said: 'With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable. 'In the name of God, I cry out against this barbaric assault on human life and dignity. It is a stain on the conscience of the international community, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.' He repeated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and said he rejected 'any policy that would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population from Gaza'. World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that people in Gaza are facing 'yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation'. On Tuesday, Wes Streeting called for recognition of Palestine 'while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Speaking in the House of Commons, the Health Secretary described Israel's attacks on healthcare workers as going 'well beyond legitimate self-defence'. He told MPs he hopes 'that the international community can come together, as the Foreign Secretary has been driving towards, to make sure that we see an end to this war, but also the recognition of the state of Palestine while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has hinted that Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire. The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine. — Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) July 23, 2025 Asked by ITV's Good Morning Britain on Tuesday what more he planned to do if Israel did not agree to end the conflict, the Foreign Secretary replied: 'Well, we've announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months. 'There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behaviour and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end.' Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.

Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood
Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood

Rhyl Journal

time15 minutes ago

  • Rhyl Journal

Sir Sadiq Khan calls on ministers to immediately recognise Palestinian statehood

The Mayor of London said that the UK 'must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing', as aid groups have warned of starvation in the Gaza Strip. It comes as the Archbishop of York labelled the situation in Gaza a 'a stain on the conscience of the international community'. More than 100 organisations including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'. 'The government of Israel's restrictions, delays and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation and death,' the letter said. In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Labour mayor Sir Sadiq said pointed to 'starving children searching hopelessly for food in the rubble' and 'family members being shot dead by Israeli soldiers as they search for aid'. 'The international community – including our own Government – must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing and let vital life saving aid in,' he added. Sir Sadiq went on: 'The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine.' Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said that the mayor should 'should spend less time trying to play on the world stage' and 'focus on fixing his own mess in the capital'. Meanwhile the current most senior bishop in the Church of England has branded the infliction of 'violence, starvation and dehumanisation' on the people of Gaza by the Israeli government 'depraved and unconscionable'. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell welcomed the UK and other nations' recent condemnation of the Israeli and US-backed current aid delivery model, which has reportedly resulted in Israel Defence Forces troops firing on Palestinian civilians in search of food on multiple occasions, but insisted there is 'no time to wait' for further action to be taken to 'stop this ongoing assault on Gaza'. He said: 'With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable. 'In the name of God, I cry out against this barbaric assault on human life and dignity. It is a stain on the conscience of the international community, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.' He repeated his call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and said he rejected 'any policy that would amount to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population from Gaza'. World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that people in Gaza are facing 'yet another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation'. On Tuesday, Wes Streeting called for recognition of Palestine 'while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Speaking in the House of Commons, the Health Secretary described Israel's attacks on healthcare workers as going 'well beyond legitimate self-defence'. He told MPs he hopes 'that the international community can come together, as the Foreign Secretary has been driving towards, to make sure that we see an end to this war, but also the recognition of the state of Palestine while there's still a state of Palestine left to recognise'. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has hinted that Israel could face further sanctions from the UK if it does not agree to a ceasefire. The UK must immediately recognise Palestinian statehood. There can be no two state solution if there is no viable state left to call Palestine. — Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) July 23, 2025 Asked by ITV's Good Morning Britain on Tuesday what more he planned to do if Israel did not agree to end the conflict, the Foreign Secretary replied: 'Well, we've announced a raft of sanctions over the last few months. 'There will be more, clearly, and we keep all of those options under consideration if we do not see a change in behaviour and the suffering that we are seeing come to an end.' Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store