BBC under pressure after cancelling film about Gaza children
British television and film producers have called on British MPs to question BBC leaders over the British broadcaster's decision to remove a true-life film about the lives of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.
British television and film producers have called on British MPs to question BBC leaders over the British broadcaster's decision to remove a true-life film about the lives of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.
The UK Screen Industry Group sent a letter to members of the UK Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee on Monday, requesting an explanation for the reasons for the removal of the film titled "Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone" from the BBC iPlayer platform.
The letter was sent a day before the BBC's director general, Tim Davie, and its chairman, Dr. Samir Shah, were to appear before the committee for questioning.
The film, which premiered on February 17, is about the life of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy named Abdullah al-Yazouri.
The BBC removed the documentary based on a true story because Yazouri's father, Dr. Ayman al-Yazouri, is Gaza's deputy minister of agriculture.
The UK Screen Industry called on British MPs to ask Davie and Dr. Shah to explain the editing standards they used and the decision-making process that led to the film's removal, a move that has raised concerns of racism and content censorship.
The group has also called on the CMS Committee to ask the BBC how it plans to maintain its commitment to impartiality and protect freedom of expression in its future decisions about news programming.
They have said that many people now feel the BBC is not a safe place for producers of programmes that highlight the suffering of Palestinians.
Last week, a group of about 45 Jewish journalists and media professionals, including former BBC director Ruth Deech, pressured the organization by sending a letter demanding the film be removed from the BBC iPlayer platform, calling the Gaza minister a "terrorist leader".
So far, 735 people have signed a letter calling on the BBC to stop what they call "suppression of reporting on Palestine", warning that the organisation's actions undermine journalistic ethics by putting political pressures ahead of the public interest.
