THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 4, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
GB News
GB News
4 Mar 2025


NextImg:BBC boss Tim Davie admits controversial Gaza documentary could RETURN to iPlayer despite 'losing trust' in film: 'I'm not ruling anything out'

BBC Director-General Tim Davie has admitted he is "not ruling out" a return of the controversial Gaza documentary to the broadcaster's iPlayer system, following an investigation into potential "bias".

Appearing in front of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee today, Davie and BBC Chair Samir Shah faced questions by MPs on the film, which sparked more than 500 complaints from viewers and various organisations.

The film, titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, sparked waves of criticism and claims of bias after it emerged one of the key people featured in the programme was the son of a Hamas leader.

Speaking to the committee, Davie admitted that there are "flaws" in the film, there is "nothing more important to the BBC" than "being trusted".

Tim Davie, Gaza documentary

BBC boss Tim Davie has admitted he is 'not ruling out' reinstating the documentary following its investigation

Parliament TV / BBC

When pressed by MP Rupa Huq on the controversial film and its "accuracy", Davie admitted there is "a lot of frustration and disappointment" felt by BBC bosses about the situation.

Davie said: "Nothing is more important than that we're trusted, and so you can imagine that I think there's a lot of frustration and disappointment.

"It's not about the BBC and people like myself, but we're very sorry to the audience because we don't want to be in a position where we we have flaws in the programme making."

However, the Director-General made clear that he is "proud" of the company for producing such programmes, and covering "difficult events" internationally.

BBC Gaza doc

The film was removed from BBC iPlayer after it was revealed that the young narrator of the film was the son of a Hamas minister

BBC

Davie told the committee: "Overall, I am proud of the way we're covering some of these polarised, fiendishly difficult events where many of our journalists, as you know, are under enormous pressure - ferocious lobbying - and it's been extremely difficult.

"But in this case, there are flaws."

Defending his decision to remove the film from the BBC iPlayer, Davie made clear that he had "lost trust" in the film after receiving hundreds of complaints about it.

MORE TO FOLLOW...

Tim Davie, Samir Shah

BBC bosses Tim Davie and Samir Shah were grilled by MPs by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Parliament TV