‘We refuse to be silenced and censored,’ journalist and presenter Ramita Navai says whereas accepting the award.
Printed On 11 Might 2026
The makers of the documentary Gaza: Medical doctors Beneath Assault, which was dropped by the BBC, have gained the Bafta TV Awards within the present affairs class.
The makers of the movie slammed the BBC throughout their acceptance speeches on the awards on Sunday, renewing controversy over the broadcaster’s determination to shelve the undertaking earlier than it was later aired by Channel 4.
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The documentary, which options firsthand accounts from Palestinian well being employees in Gaza, was honoured at London’s Royal Competition Corridor almost a yr after the BBC declined to broadcast it, citing issues over partiality.
Accepting the award, govt producer Ben de Pear thanked the journalists behind the movie earlier than instantly addressing the BBC, which aired the Bafta ceremony on BBC One with a delay of greater than two hours: “Lastly, only a query for the BBC: Given you dropped our movie, will you drop us from the Bafta screening later tonight?”
Journalist and presenter Ramita Navai additionally criticised the broadcaster throughout her speech, citing findings from the documentary’s investigation into assaults on Gaza’s healthcare system.
“These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for however refused to point out,” Navai stated. “However we refuse to be silenced and censored. We thank Channel 4 for displaying this movie.”
Navai stated greater than 1,700 Palestinian docs and healthcare employees have been killed and greater than 400 have been detained throughout Israel’s genocidal conflict on Palestinians in Gaza. She devoted the award to Palestinian medical employees being held in Israeli prisons.
Initially commissioned by BBC
Based on British media reviews, the BBC edited parts of Navai’s remarks from its televised broadcast after consultations with its compliance staff.
The BBC initially commissioned the documentary from the impartial manufacturing firm Basement Movies greater than a yr in the past however delayed its launch whereas conducting a assessment into one other Gaza-related documentary, Gaza: How To Survive a Struggle Zone.
The broadcaster later determined to not air Gaza: Medical doctors Beneath Assault, saying the movie risked creating “a notion of partiality that might not meet the excessive requirements that the general public rightly anticipate of the BBC”.
The company additionally stated impartiality remained “a core precept of BBC Information”.
The movie was subsequently acquired and broadcast by Channel 4 in July.
Talking backstage after the Bafta win, de Pear praised Gazan journalists Jaber Badwan and Osana Al Ashi, who contributed footage to the documentary, saying the staff “awakened every single day questioning if the 2 journalists on the bottom have been nonetheless alive”.
