Board claims ‘some progress’ after meeting with BBC chiefs over Hamas documentary
Phil Rosenberg says BBC leadership must move 'firmer, further and faster' to regain confidence
The Board of Deputies has said there has been “some progress on the issues raised” with BBC Director-General Tim Davie and other senior executives in a meeting called following the outcry over the screening of the “Gaza: How To Survive a Warzone” documentary.
The Board and BBC met on March 20th, with the communal organisation setting a Passover deadline for “a list of clear actions the BBC should take to tackle issues of bias in its coverage, and improve its treatment of Jewish staff and contractors.”
Since that date, the Board said in a new statement that the respective teams have been discussing these measures, with the BBC now said to be seeking to so the following:
– The BBC has committed to launching an independent Thematic Review into its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict and is considering both the terms of reference and the timing of that review. We have asked for this to include the BBC Arabic service, which has been of particular concern.
– A full fact-finding review into the making of the highly problematic programme ‘Gaza: How To Survive a Warzone’, is currently underway and the Board has asked for a report on the conclusions of this review at the earliest opportunity.
– We have been assured that issues around the use of language and translation, including the policy around translating the words ‘Yahud/Yahudi’, are being considered in the course of these two reviews.
– The BBC has confirmed it has facilitated training on antisemitism over the past year with a range of editorial colleagues, and it is considering plans to roll out training more widely. Given serious concerns about the health and well-being of Jewish staff at the BBC, we will be engaging with the BBC to ensure that, going forward, the quality and content of this training is what the Jewish community would expect.
The Board’s statement said it was continuing to press our BBC counterparts on “calling Hamas and Hezbollah what they are: ‘proscribed terrorist organisations'”.
And also over a means of “rapidly addressing serious editorial failures and occasions where reporters are found to have egregiously breached its rules of impartiality and/or antisemitism.”
Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “As we reach the Passover deadline we set the BBC leadership, we can acknowledge that there appears to have been some progress on the issues we raised.
“As yet, this has not gone as far or as deep as will be required to fix the problems that we have identified.
“In order to regain public confidence, and the confidence of its Jewish staff, the BBC leadership must move firmer, further and faster to address these concerns.
“We will continue to engage, robustly where necessary, to ensure that the content and culture of our national broadcaster is worthy of its place of responsibility in our society”.
The BBC had aired the Gaza documentary on February 17, and it subsequently emerged the film’s narrator was the son of Hamas’ minister of agriculture Ayman al-Yazouri.
Criticism continued about the programme’s subtitling choices – including contributors using the Arabic word for “Jews” on camera, which was translated in the subtitles as “Israelis” or “Israeli army”. Some argue that the BBC covered up antisemitism. Others have claimed the subtitles are closer to what the speaker intends rather than a literal translation.
After an initial investigation, the BBC said the programme, which had been commissioned by the BBC and made by an outside production company, “fell short of our expectations”.
It has launched a further review headed by the director of editorial complaints and reviews, Peter Johnston. He will look at whether editorial guidelines were broken and whether anyone should be disciplined.
The BBC says it had asked the production company “a number of times” in writing during the making of the film about any connections he and his family might have with Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation by the US, UK and others.
Hoyo Films, the maker of the film, later acknowledged it “never told the BBC this fact”.
The broadcaster also disclosed that producer Hoyo Films paid the boy’s mother through his sister’s bank account for the narration, prompting a full financial audit.
While Hoyo has assured the BBC that “no payments were made to members of Hamas or its affiliates,” the broadcaster is seeking “additional assurance around the budget” and has requested access to the production company’s financial accounts.
A BBC Spokesperson said: “We were pleased to meet the Board of Deputies and are committed to continuing an open and ongoing dialogue.
“We take the matters raised with us extremely seriously and have updated them on a number of the topics they raise, including around training for staff and launching an independent Thematic Review of our Israel-Gaza coverage.
“The BBC is committed to upholding the highest possible editorial standards across our output, reporting impartially to maintain the trust of audiences.
“The conduct and welfare of all of our staff is an absolute priority and we have well-established and robust processes in place to handle any concerns or complaints raised with us.”
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