BBC permanently shelves Gaza doc following producer Ben De Pear’s Sheffield outburst
DOC/FEST: The BBC has confirmed it will never broadcast a documentary it commissioned on doctors working in Gaza due to impartiality concerns, following fierce criticism of the corporation from the film’s producer earlier this week.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was commissioned by the UK pubcaster from London-based indie Basement Films, which is led by the former editor of Channel 4 News Ben De Pear, and was originally scheduled to broadcast in February.
It was placed on indefinite hold by the BBC pending the outcome of an investigation into a separate documentary, Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which was produced by Hoyo Films and aired on BBC Two earlier this year.
Here at Sheffield Doc/Fest on Thursday, De Pear issued a stinging rebuke of the BBC and its director general Tim Davie over its coverage and editorial decision-making around Gaza.
Speaking during the Too Hot To Handle: The Future of Political Documentaries panel, De Pear said the BBC was running scared of the pro-Israel lobby; “racist” in its reporting of Gaza; taking an “indefensible” position for PR reasons rather than “standing up for its journalism”; and that people within the corporation were “ashamed” of its coverage. He claimed Davie was “taking editorial decisions, which frankly he is not capable of making.”
BBC News now reports that this prompted a final decision on Thursday not to air the documentary at all, and to return ownership and distribution rights of it to Basement Films.
The corporation’s full statement is as follows:
“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.”
De Pear told delegates at Sheffield the BBC had “utterly failed” in its coverage of what was happening in Gaza.
He said: “They’ve been in a defensive stance for years. The BBC’s primary purpose is TV news and current affairs and if it’s failing on that then it doesn’t matter what drama it does or sport it covers, it’s failing as an institution. If it’s failing on that then it needs new management. They are making decisions from a PR, defensive point of view rather than a journalistic point of view. If you make a decision on a journalistic basis you can defend it. If you make it on a PR basis you can’t.”
Today, in a statement, Basement Films said it was relieved the film would be released to audiences.
The company’s full statement is as follows:
“We are relieved that the BBC will finally allow this film to be released back to Basement Films, so that we can release it to the world. For a period of weeks from March onwards they told us several times verbally and by email they had approved this film for broadcast, that it was a vital piece of public service journalism, and that it was categorically not being delayed because of the Johnston report. They gave us no less than six different release dates, and it was subjected to a long and repeated compliance process as well as scrupulous fact checking.
“They then apologised and reversed their position and said that it would be subject to the recommendations of the Johnston report, but they did not know what those recommendations would be, nor when the report would be out. It has been clear since then that they had no intention of releasing this film in the form they had actually already approved.
“Our argument all along has been to tell the story of the doctors and medics as soon as possible, people whom we convinced to talk to us despite their own reservations that the BBC would ever tell their stories.
“We would like to thank all the BBC people who worked on this film, those who approved it, those who praised and lauded it, and the scores of BBC staff members, on- air editors, correspondents, producers, managers, technical staff and freelancers who told us to keep fighting and gave us sound advice, wrote group letters to their bosses, and asked us to keep fighting to have the film released as approved. Although the BBC are now taking their names off this film, it will remain theirs, and we hope it serves to open up the debate on how the nation’s broadcaster covers what is happening in Gaza, and that people feel free to speak up and speak out, rather than stay silent or leave, and at some point get the journalistic leadership they deserve.
“But most of all we would like to thank the doctors and contributors and survivors, and to apologise for not believing them when they said the BBC would never run a film like this. It turned out they were right.”
