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

Israeli official says Gaza ceasefire proposal from Hamas is ‘workable'
Israeli official says Gaza ceasefire proposal from Hamas is ‘workable'

Leader Live

time5 minutes ago

  • Leader Live

Israeli official says Gaza ceasefire proposal from Hamas is ‘workable'

An Israeli source familiar with ceasefire talks said Israel was studying the proposal for the Gaza Strip. Hamas confirmed sending a response to mediators in an statement early on Thursday. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases, in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce. Israel said it was reviewing Hamas's response. A statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed receipt of the Hamas reply on Thursday but did not specify what it entailed. The offer came a day after more than 100 charity and human rights groups said Israel's blockade and military offensive are pushing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip towards starvation. Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and the offensive launched in response to Hamas's attack on October 7 2023. Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Europe to meet key leaders from the Middle East to discuss the latest ceasefire proposal and the release of hostages. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. Elsewhere, Palestinian health officials said on Thursday that two Palestinian teenage boys had been killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday night in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel's military said its forces fired at Palestinians throwing petrol bombs towards a major road, killing two near the town of Al-Khader. Palestinian health officials named the teenagers killed as Ahmed Al-Salah, 15, and Mohammed Khaled Alian Issa, 17. Violence has spiralled in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began. More than 955 Palestinians have been killed there by Israeli fire during that time, according to the United Nations, many during raids Israel says are to stamp out militancy.

BBC claims its journalists are facing starvation in Gaza
BBC claims its journalists are facing starvation in Gaza

Telegraph

time21 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

BBC claims its journalists are facing starvation in Gaza

The BBC has warned Israel that its journalists are facing starvation in Gaza. In a joint statement with the world's largest news agencies, the broadcaster called for 'adequate food supplies' to be provided to people in the war-torn area. It raised concerns about its journalists in Gaza, who they said are suffering the same conditions as the population they are reporting on for the BBC. Foreign reporters are barred from entering the Gaza Strip, apart from a few short cases of being 'embedded' with Israeli forces, and international news organisations rely on journalists based in the war-torn region. The statement by the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France Presse said: 'We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. 'For many months, these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering. 'Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in war zones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them. 'We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza. It is essential that adequate food supplies reach the people there.' The plea comes after more than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups, including Médecins Sans Frontières, warned that Gaza was at critical risk of famine. The groups claimed that the 'Israeli government's siege starves the people of Gaza'. The World Health Organisation has also warned of 'mass starvation'. The Hamas-run health ministry has tallied the total death count during the conflict overall at 59,000. Israel claimed that more than 150 food trucks were already on the move, and a hundred more are awaiting pick up by UN agencies. The BBC's intervention in the crisis comes after a string of controversies about its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict. The corporation was found to have breached its editorial guidelines over the acquisition of the documentary of Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. This documentary was pulled when it was revealed that its main narrator, a boy named Abudullah, was the son of the Hamas-run government's deputy minister of agriculture, Ayman Alyazouri - a fact not disclosed to viewers. This blunder was compounded when Deborah Turness, the BBC News boss, told staff there was a 'difference' between the Hamas government and the Hamas military wing. Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, has moved to reassure Jewish members of staff who are concerned about the broadcaster's culture and leadership following a series of ' catastrophic failures '. The BBC's leadership has drawn up plans to expand anti-Semitism awareness training in the wake of these damaging scandals.

BBC apologises to Lowe over Rape Gang Inquiry report
BBC apologises to Lowe over Rape Gang Inquiry report

Spectator

time32 minutes ago

  • Spectator

BBC apologises to Lowe over Rape Gang Inquiry report

Another day, another drama over at the Beeb. Now the corporation has apologised to ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe and his Rape Gang Inquiry, acknowledging that it should have given the parliamentarian more time to respond to reports that he was being probed for not registering donations in time. In a statement released on its website, the BBC described how it ran an article on the investigation by parliament's standards watchdog into whether Lowe had not registered donations in time and therefore breached the MP's code of conduct. The organisation noted: The BBC approached Mr Lowe for comment and published an article reporting the investigation before receiving his reply, which was judged appropriate since the fact of an investigation was in the public domain. Although the story was accurate and BBC guidance allows some latitude on the time offered for right of reply in certain circumstances around contemporaneous reporting, the article also included additional details about the donations being related to a crowdfunder in support of a national inquiry into gang-based sexual exploitation across the UK, known as the Rape Gang Inquiry. These were details about the investigation which had not been released by Parliament's standards commissioner. The article was updated within the hour to include a response from the Rape Gang Inquiry, but we accept that we should have given Rupert Lowe more time to respond. As it happens, Lowe was cleared of breaching MP rules. Parliament's standards commissioner found he still had time to declare more than £600,000 raised via a crowdfunder to support an inquiry into gang-based sexual exploitation across the UK. The Greater Yarmouth politician slammed the complaint against him as a 'malicious attempt to shut me down' and insisted at the time that he would be complaining to the Beeb over the way it covered the story. Who's laughing now, eh?

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