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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
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". BBC News has contacted production company Basement Films for comment. Its founder Ben de Pear said earlier this week the BBC had "utterly failed" and that journalists were "being stymied and silenced". The BBC said it was "transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films". 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 programme discussing the war 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." 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. "All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists, they were taken by Tim Davie," he claimed while taking part in a panel, as reported by Broadcast. "He is just a PR person. Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making." 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. It is failing as an institution. And if it's failing on that then it needs new management. "Something needs to happen because they are making decisions from a PR defensive point of view rather than a journalistic one. If you make a decision on a journalistic basis you can defend it, but if you make it on a PR basis, you can't." 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." 'I lost trust' in Gaza film, says BBC boss Tim Davie
Los Angeles Times
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Before social media, Barbara Walters said ‘Tell Me Everything.' And many did
There is no single figure in television history whose longevity and influence match Barbara Walters'. She became a star on NBC's 'Today' in the early 1960s, raising the stature of the morning franchise. She opened doors for women as a network anchor and turned newsmaker interviews into major television events — 74 million tuned into her 1999 sit-down with Monica Lewinsky. She created one of daytime TV's longest-running hits with 'The View,' which evolved into a major forum for the country's political discourse. 'The audience size that Barbara was able to capture and harness is unmatched in today's world,' said Jackie Jesko, director of the new documentary 'Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything,' debuting Monday on Hulu after its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this month. 'Everything she did sort of made a difference.' Jesko's feature — produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Documentaries and ABC News Studios — is the first in-depth look into Walters' storied career. The film also serves as a sweeping historical review of the decades-long dominance of network news that made figures such as Walters a gatekeeper of the culture, as Jesko describes her. Before the advent of social media and podcasts that allowed celebrities to control their messages, going through the X-ray machine of a Barbara Walters interview delivered exposure on a massive scale. David Sloan, a longtime ABC News producer who worked with Walters, recalls how the screen images of her specials flickered through the windows of Manhattan apartment towers. 'Tell Me Everything' came together not long after Walters died at the age of 93 in 2022. Sara Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, approached Betsy West, executive producer and co-director of the Julia Child documentary 'Julia,' about taking on a Walters project. Sloan, who oversaw an Emmy-winning tribute after Walters' death, also wanted a deeper exploration into the impact of her career. West, also a former Walters colleague, and Sloan became executive producers on the film. 'Tell Me Everything' taps deeply into the ABC News archives, which contain thousands of hours of interviews Walters conducted over her 40 years at the network. Imagine not only gained access to program content but also outtakes that give parts of the film a cinema vérité-like look at Walters on the job. The newly unearthed footage provides some surreal moments, such as Walters — in a pink Chanel suit — exploring the damaged palace of Libya's deposed leader Moammar Kadafi. 'The archive gave us a the perfect canvas to relive her scenes and her moments,' Bernstein said. Walters' story also gives a guided tour of the obstacle-ridden path women faced in the early days of TV news when it was dominated by patriarchy and self-importance. Female reporters were relegated to writing soft features and kept at a distance from hard news. But Walters shattered those barriers through her grit and wits. She toiled as a writer in local TV and a failed CBS morning program before landing at NBC's 'Today' in 1961. ('They needed someone they could hire cheap,' she said.) Walters went from churning out copy for the program's 'Today Girl' to doing her own on-air segments, including a famously beguiling report on a Paris fashion show and a day-in-the-life look at being a Playboy bunny. More serious assignments came her way. The morning viewing audience loved Walters even though she didn't believe she was attractive enough to be on camera. Her career trajectory was slowed down only by male executives unwilling to embrace the idea that a woman could be the face of a network news operation. By 1971, Walters was the main attraction on 'Today' when she sat alongside host Frank McGee every morning. But she was denied equal status. A respected journalist with the demeanor of an undertaker, McGee insisted to management that he ask the first three questions of any hard news subject who appeared on 'Today' before Walters could have a chance. The restriction led to Walters going outside the NBC studios to conduct interviews where her subjects lived or worked. The approach not only gave her control of the conversations but added a level of intimacy that audiences were not getting elsewhere on television. Walters also had written into her contract that if McGee ever left 'Today,' she would be promoted to the title of co-host. NBC brass agreed to the provision, believing McGee was not going anywhere. But McGee was suffering from bone cancer, which he had kept secret. He died in 1974 and Walters was elevated to co-host, making her the first woman to lead a daily network news program. (Or as Katie Couric candidly puts it in the film, 'She got it literally over Frank McGee's dead body.') Walters made history again when she was poached by ABC News in 1976. She was given a record-high $1-million annual salary to be the first woman co-anchor of a network evening newscast, paired with Harry Reasoner, a crusty and unwelcoming veteran. Walters was mistreated by her colleague and roasted by critics and competitors such as CBS News commentator Eric Sevareid, who, with disgust in his voice, described her as 'a lady reading the news.' The evening news experiment with Reasoner was a short-lived disaster, but Walters found a supporter in Roone Arledge, the ABC Sports impresario who took over the news division and had an appreciation for showmanship. He recognized Walters' strengths and made her a roving correspondent. Walters scored a major coup in 1977 when she was the first TV journalist to speak jointly with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin during Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem. 'She was a household name in the Mideast,' Sloan said. Over time, Walters would become known for her prime-time specials, where lengthy interviews with world leaders aired adjacent to conversations with movie stars. She could be a blunt questioner in both realms, asking Barbra Streisand why she chose not to get her nose fixed and former President Richard M. Nixon if he wished he had burned the White House tapes that undid his presidency ('I probably should have'). News purists clutched their pearls, but the audience welcomed it. 'She had a vision back then that celebrities are news,' said Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger in the film. 'She was practicing the art of journalism when she was interviewing them.' The film explains how Walters developed an understanding of celebrities after growing up around her father's nightclub, the Latin Quarter, a hot spot in Boston. Sitting in the rafters above the floor show, she observed how audiences responded as well. Even though Walters' programs earned significant revenue for ABC News, she still had detractors, including the network's star anchor Peter Jennings. A clip from the network's political convention coverage in 1992 shows Jennings surreptitiously flipping his middle finger at her following an on-air exchange. But Walters was unstoppable, and as the 1980s and 1990s progressed, she became a mother confessor for perpetrators and victims of scandal. During a memorable jailhouse meeting with the Menendez brothers in which Eric describes himself and Lyle as 'normal kids,' a stunned Walters replies, 'Eric, you're a normal kid who murdered his parents!' As always, she was speaking for the person watching at home. 'She always wanted to ask the question that was percolating in the brain of someone who didn't have the opportunity or was too afraid to ask,' said Meredith Kaulfers, an executive vice president at Imagine Documentaries. Walters became a pioneer for women broadcasters out of necessity. While in her 20s, her father's nightclub business collapsed and she became the sole source of financial support for her family, which included her mentally disabled older sister. The terror of the insecurity she felt during that period never left. 'There was a survival instinct in her that drove her,' said Marcella Steingart, a producer on the film. 'Not necessarily on purpose, but in her wake, she opened doors for people.' 'Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything' is not a hagiography. The film explores her fraught relationship with her adopted daughter Jacqueline, who did not sit for an interview. Walters' unhealthy obsession with colleague and rival Diane Sawyer is covered, too, as is her willingness to use the social connections she developed through her career, and not just to land big interviews. Walters had a friendship with unsavory lawyer Roy Cohn, who pulled strings to make her father's tax problems go away. She carried on a secret romance in the 1970s with a married U.S. senator — Edward Brooke — while she was a fixture in national political coverage. While the film draws on interviews where Walters laments not being able to have both a successful career and a family life, Jesko sensed no regrets. 'I think if she could live her life over again, she wouldn't change anything,' Jesko said.
Sydney Morning Herald
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Aaron Woods strips off at Bondi Beach
NRL great Aaron Woods strips off and runs into the water at Bondi Beach after losing a State of Origin bet with Today host Karl Stefanovic.
The Age
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Aaron Woods strips off at Bondi Beach
NRL great Aaron Woods strips off and runs into the water at Bondi Beach after losing a State of Origin bet with Today host Karl Stefanovic.
Miami Herald
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Former Spy Chief: ‘Good Case' for US To Strike Iranian Nuclear Site
The U.S. should go ahead and destroy the most deeply buried nuclear facilities in Iran, a former U.K. intelligence chief has said. The comments by John Sawers, former head of MI6, came as President Donald Trump weighs up whether to commit the U.S. to direct involvement in the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. Khosro Isfahani, senior research analyst at National Union for Democracy in Iran, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. told Newsweek on Thursday removing the nuclear threat posed by Iran "would give the world a better chance at containing the regime." Israel said its Operation Rising Lion is aimed at destroying Iran's chances of building a nuclear bomb, although Tehran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes. The U.S. is believed to have weapons which can destroy Iran's secret nuclear site at Fordow, with U.S. reports pointing to the GBU-57 bunker-busting bomb, which can be delivered by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers. The comments by such a senior former intelligence figure will add weight to the argument that the U.S. should proceed with targeting Iranian's underground nuclear sites. Sawers was head of the U.K's Secret Intelligence Service MI6 between 2009 and 2014. In an interview for the BBC radio program Today, Sawers said there is a good case for the U.S. destroying the most deeply buried nuclear facilities in Iran. He said that in some ways "it would be better if they got on with it" because it would give a better chance of ending the conflict. He referred to the nuclear facilities at Fordow, which he said were buried up to 300 feet beneath the surface. When asked if it could end the regime and unleash uncontrollable forces, Sawers said that destroying the nuclear facilities did not mean the regime would be quashed. Unlike the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria, there is no alternative, well-armed militia ready to take over, he said. In response to Sawer's comments, Isfahani told Newsweek that Iran and the wider Middle East have been hostages to the Islamic Republic for over four decades, due to the triple threat of missiles and drones, proxy forces, and nuclear brinkmanship. "The evil triangle has already been weakened; now it must be shattered. The regime must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon." he said. John Sawers, former head of the U.K.'s MI6 on the BBC: "I think there is a good case for the Americans to destroy the most deeply-buried nuclear facilities in Iran." Khosro Isfahani, senior research analyst at National Union for Democracy in Iran, told Newsweek that removing the nuclear threat "would give the world a better chance at containing the regime. It would also deprive the gambling ayatollah of the opportunity to play the last card up his sleeve." The Wall Street Journal and CBS reported that President Donald Trump had signed off on an attack on Iran's nuclear sites, but had not decided whether to go ahead with strikes. However, adding to speculation was the response by the U.S. president on social media that the Journal "has no idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!" Related Articles Putin is Close to Losing His Grip on the Middle East"Hitler" Comments Deepen NATO Ally Turkey's Feud With IsraelU.S. Issues Security Warning for Biggest Middle East BaseDonald Trump Moves Closer to Bombing Iran 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
