Ben de Pear criticizes BBC’s Tim Davie, calling him a ‘PR person,’ and claims the corporation tried to silence him using legal gagging clauses.
Stream Gaza: Doctors Under Attack on Channel 4 outside the UK for free
The producer of a documentary about medics in Gaza, which the BBC decided not to air, has accused the broadcaster of attempting to silence him and others over its choice to drop the film.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack—which eventually aired on Channel 4 on Wednesday night—highlights how hospitals in Gaza have been overwhelmed, bombed, and raided. The film includes testimonies from medics who say they were detained and tortured. It was originally scheduled to be broadcast on the BBC.
Ben de Pear, the film’s executive producer and former Channel 4 News editor, claimed the BBC tried to prevent him from speaking about the film’s “painful journey” to air by using legal gagging clauses.
I rejected and refused to sign the double gagging clause the BBC bosses tried multiple times to get me to sign, Not only could we have been sued for saying the BBC refused to air the film (palpably and provably true) but also if any other company had said it, the BBC could sue us.
he wrote on LinkedIn.
Not only could we not tell the truth that was already stated, but neither could others. Reader, I didn’t sign it.
Instead, he spoke out publicly, criticising BBC director general Tim Davie at a Sheffield conference over the decision to pull the documentary. “All the decisions about our film were not taken by journalists, they were taken by Tim Davie,” he said. “He is just a PR person. Tim Davie is taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making.”
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.
The BBC did not respond directly to the accusations. However, an insider claimed that Basement Films, Ben de Pear’s production company, had only been asked to sign a standard clause requiring BBC permission before promoting any show publicly. Basement Films, however, is understood to dispute this version of events.
BBC sources suggested that the broadcaster was exploring ways to incorporate footage from the documentary into its news coverage. However, they said the final decision to drop the film came after De Pear made public remarks in Sheffield—an account that Basement Films also contests. A BBC source added that once control of the documentary was returned to Basement Films, it was no longer considered a BBC production.
The sources also denied that the BBC had tried to silence De Pear, noting that he had publicly spoken about the film. They also referenced a statement released by the BBC last month, in which it confirmed the project had been dropped.
De Pear’s remarks came after more than 100 BBC staff anonymously signed a letter criticizing the decision to pull the film. The letter also raised concerns about the role of Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former communications director, who now serves on the BBC board and editorial standards committee.
Gibb led the group that acquired the Jewish Chronicle in 2020 and remained a director at Jewish Chronicle Media until August 2024. The BBC stated that he had no “formal role” in any decisions involving the Gaza documentary.
Prior to fully pulling the medics film, the BBC had delayed its broadcast, citing the ongoing review of another documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. That documentary had been removed from iPlayer earlier this year after it was revealed that the 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official. The investigation into its production is still underway.
Source: The Guardian