BBC shelves Gaza doc over impartiality concerns

The BBC says it has decided not to broadcast a documentary about doctors working in Gaza, due to impartiality concerns it has surrounding the production.

Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was commissioned by the BBC but produced by an independent production company. It was originally scheduled for broadcast in February, but has not yet aired on any BBC outlet.

In a statement, the BBC said it was "determined to report all aspects of the conflict in the Middle East impartially and fairly".

Basement Films said it was "relieved that the BBC will finally allow this film to be released". The BBC confirmed it was "transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films".

The production company's founder, Ben de Pear, said earlier this week the BBC had "utterly failed" and that journalists were "being stymied and silenced".

BBC News understands the decision to shelve the documentary was taken on Thursday, following public comments by De Pear at the Sheffield Documentary Festival, and another of the film's directors, journalist Ramita Navai, who appeared on Radio 4's Today discussing the war in Gaza.

Navai told the programme Israel had "become a rogue state that's committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing and mass murdering Palestinians". Israel has denied accusations of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

A different documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was pulled from iPlayer earlier this year after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.

Gaza: Doctors Under Attack - also known as Gaza: Medics Under Fire - is said to examine the experiences of Palestinian medics working during the war in Gaza.

The film is directed by Karim Shah, Navai and De Pear, a former editor of Channel 4 News.

In a statement on Friday, the BBC said it had commissioned the documentary over a year ago, but paused the 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 [Thursday], 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."

The corporation added that, contrary to some reports, the documentary had "not undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast sign-off processes", adding: "Any film broadcast will not be a BBC film."

It continued: "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."

In its own statement, Basement Films claimed it had been given "no less than six different release dates" and the film went through a "long and repeated compliance process as well as scrupulous fact checking".

It continued: "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."

"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."

Speaking at the Sheffield Documentary Festival on Thursday, before the decision was announced, De Pear specifically blamed director general Tim Davie for refusing to air the film.

He added: "The BBC's primary purpose is TV news and current affairs, and if it's failing on that it doesn't matter what drama it makes or sports it covers," he said, as reported by Broadcast. "It is failing as an institution. And if it's failing on that then it needs new management.

In relation to the war, De Pear claimed staff at the BBC "are being forced to use language they don't recognise, they are not describing something as it clearly is [for fear of impartiality] and it's tragic".

Responding to De Pear's comments, a BBC spokesperson said the BBC "totally reject[s] this characterisation of our coverage".

"The BBC has continually produced powerful journalism about this conflict. Alongside breaking news and ongoing analysis, we have produced original investigations such as those into allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners and Israel's use of bunker buster bombs and in-depth documentaries including the award-winning Life and Death in Gaza, and Gaza 101."

High-profile figures such as actress Susan Sarandon and presenter Gary Lineker have previously accused the corporation of censorship over the delay.

An open letter, which was also signed by cultural figures such as Dame Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake, Juliet Stevenson and Mike Leigh, said: "This is not editorial caution. It's political suppression."

"No news organisation should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling," it continued.

"This important film should be seen by the public, and its contributors' bravery honoured."