Tag: BBC

BBC bosses ‘throwing Palestinian children under a bus’

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Following Tuesday’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee session on the BBC axing of Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a move which prompted concerns of racism and censorship from 1000+ programme-makers, Artists for Palestine UK said:

“Rupa Huq asked about the risk of ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’. We say Tim Davie and Samir Shah are throwing Palestinian children under the bus.

“BBC bosses must explain how they plan to safeguard the children who participated in the film. Their lives are in danger as Israel cuts off aid and threatens to collapse the ceasefire in Gaza. How will Britain’s public broadcaster ensure it isn’t putting a target on innocent kids’ backs?

“We welcome Tim Davie saying an independent review of the BBC’s Middle East coverage is appropriate and urge that this accounts for its abject failure to stand by the Palestinian voices it features. We all know Israeli guests would never be treated this way.”

TV industry urges MPs to press BBC execs over Gaza documentary removal

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UK TV and film programme-makers have urged a panel of MPs to press BBC executives on Tuesday over the controversial removal of a documentary about children in Gaza.

The UK Screen Industry group sent a letter (copied below) to members of the House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee on Monday, the day before they grill BBC director-general Tim Davie and chair Dr Samir Shah.

The group urged the lawmakers to ask Davie and Dr Shah to “clarify the specific editorial standards relied upon and the decision-making processes that led” to the axing of Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a move which has prompted concerns of racism and censorship.

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Our response to the BBC’s shameful statement on ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone’

Following Thursday’s BBC board meeting and statement on Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, Artists for Palestine UK said:

“We are appalled that the BBC has chosen to give credence to a politicised campaign that sought to discredit a documentary about children’s experiences of unspeakable Israeli military violence, because one child’s father was deputy agriculture minister in Gaza. This disgraceful decision comes despite nearly 900 media figures having warned the BBC of the dangers of such an approach.

“Reports over the last week have detailed Israel’s detention and torture of hundreds of Gaza’s medical workers. The world has seen images of traumatised and emaciated Palestinian captives emerging from Israeli jails, some with limbs amputated. Rather than adequately reporting on these horrors, the BBC is instead removing a documentary about children in Gaza because of misleading claims about the identity of one child’s parent.”

1,000+ programme-makers condemn censorship and racism after BBC pulls Gaza documentary

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Gary Lineker, Khalid Abdalla, Anita Rani, and Miriam Margolyes have joined over 1,000 film, TV, and media workers in condemning censorship and racism after the BBC pulled a documentary about children’s lives in Gaza.

The media professionals, including sixteen BBC staff, sent a letter to the broadcaster’s director-general Tim Davie, chair of the board Samir Shah, chief content officer Charlotte Moore, and head of news and current affairs Deborah Turness on Wednesday. The letter (in full below) condemned a “racist” and “dehumanising” campaign targeting the film Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, which the BBC removed from its iPlayer streaming service after pressure from supporters of Israel. The BBC’s board is set to discuss the documentary on Thursday.

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Artswatch Palestine: June-August 2018

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Gaza – the war against culture

On Thursday, 9th August, at around 17.45, Israeli drones began firing missiles at the Sa’ed al-Mishal Cultural Centre on Aydiyia Street in al-Rimal neighbourhood, west of Gaza City.  The 5-story building which housed the centre was completely destroyed.

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