BBC scraps plans to show documentary about medics in Gaza after new bias concerns

The BBC has decided to scrap plans to show a documentary about medics in Gaza over concerns it 'risked creating a perception of partiality' of its coverage of the conflict.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was commissioned by the corporation more than a year ago from an independent production company called Basement Films.
However, its production was paused in April after an investigation was launched into the making of another controversial documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone.
That programme was taken off the iPlayer earlier this year, and the corporation was forced to apologise after it was revealed that the documentary featured a 13-year-old narrator who is the son of a Hamas government minister and grandson of one of Hamas' s founding members.
In the latest controversy over the BBC's coverage of the war, the broadcaster has confirmed discussions over the documentary showing the plight of medics in Gaza had 'reached the end of the road'.
The corporation will now transfer ownership of the project to the independent production company that produced it.
'We wanted the doctors' voices to be heard,' the BBC said in a statement.
'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.'
But, the corporation added: '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.'
It went on to say that since the pause in production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, 'it has not undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast sign-off processes' and 'any film broadcast will not be a BBC film'.
Critics were also enraged by the Beeb's failure to disclose who the film's narrator was, leading former director of BBC Television Danny Cohen to say: 'The BBC appears to have given an hour of prime-time coverage to the son of a senior member of the Hamas terrorist group.
'Either they were not aware of the terrorist links because they did not carry out the most basic journalistic checks or the BBC did know and misled audiences about the family's deep involvement with terrorism.'
The BBC documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was broadcast on BBC Two with the aim of showing a 'vivid and unflinching view of life' in the enclave
Since the allegations were made, the BBC has apologised and added new text to the film which explains who Abdullah and his father are.
In an email exchange via the BBC, Abdullah reportedly said he wanted to be part of the documentary, which was made by Hoyo Films, 'to explain the suffering that people here in Gaza witness with the language that the world understands, English.'
He is said to have asked to be involved to help viewers learn about the situation on the ground without being 'blurred by misinformation'.
The BBC documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was broadcast on February 17 on BBC Two with the aim of showing a 'vivid and unflinching view of life' in the strip.
It was made by two producers based in London who remotely directed two cameramen on the ground over nine months.
Independent investigative journalist David Collier claimed one of the child narrators, Abdullah, is the son of a Hamas government minister and grandson of one of Hamas's founding members.
Using Facebook and publicly available data online, Mr Collier claimed the show's young star is the son of Gaza's deputy minister of agriculture Dr Ayman Al-Yazouri.
This would mean his grandfather would be the Hamas founder Ibrahim al-Yazouri, who has previously been jailed by Egypt and Israel for involvement in proscribed groups.
The Daily Mail has not been able to independently verify Mr Collier's claims.
The BBC apologised for the inclusion of the documentary's young star, with a spokesperson for the corporation saying: 'Since the transmission of our documentary on Gaza, the BBC has become aware of the family connections of the film's narrator, a child called Abdullah.
'We've promised our audiences the highest standards of transparency, so it is only right that as a result of this new information, we add some more detail to the film before its retransmission. We apologise for the omission of that detail from the original film.'
The BBC said the new text attached to the film: 'The narrator of this film is 13 year old Abdullah. His father has worked as a deputy agriculture minister for the Hamas-run government in Gaza. The production team had full editorial control of filming with Abdullah.'
'We followed all of our usual compliance procedures in the making of this film, but we had not been informed of this information by the independent producers when we complied and then broadcast the finished film,' the statement added.
'The film remains a powerful child's eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency.'

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