00:00BBC bosses have appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, following a string
00:06of scandals to hit the corporation.
00:08Director-General Tim Davey and Chairman Dr Sameer Shah were questioned by MPs on three
00:14main points – the BBC's Gaza documentary, its Glastonbury coverage and the Greg Wallace
00:20investigation.
00:21How to Survive a War Zone was narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah.
00:26It was pulled from the schedule after it emerged the narrator was the son of an official in
00:31Gaza's Hamas-run government.
00:34Hamas has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British government.
00:38A report found the BBC's failure to disclose that information in the programme was a breach
00:44of the broadcaster's own editorial guidelines.
00:47I think that really does go straight to the heart of the BBC's reputational risk in terms
00:54of being impartial, in terms of being trustworthy. So I do think that was the case. I don't
00:58want to minimise what was the problem here. I think it was the problem. In this case it
01:03was sin of omission. They're just as serious as sins of commission.
01:06It was a bad mistake. I mean, I think the report also says that the BBC also, you know,
01:11there was Hoyo Films not disclosing fully that information was important to us as well.
01:16There were also questions over the challenges of impartiality and compliance with editorial
01:21standards, particularly given Israel's ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza.
01:26I think we should all say that not allowing journalists into Gaza is unacceptable.
01:32And it really is, it puts, in my view, this is probably the toughest editorial coverage
01:43challenge we've ever had. Certainly, I say ever. You know, 20 years I've been to BBC,
01:47this is as tough as it gets.
01:49MPs asked the Director-General and the Chairman about the BBC's coverage of Glastonbury
01:5425. In particular, the live broadcast of Bob Villenset, as the band's singer led the
02:00crowd in chants of, death, death to the IDF, and made other derogatory comments.
02:06I thought it was deeply disturbing what happened. I mean, the BBC made a very significant mistake,
02:11very significant in broadcasting that.
02:13So, a broadcast that went out at the end of June, the internal processes haven't been
02:19expedited, people have not faced any consequences, the decision involved in, um, uh, in the
02:24case, um, whether or not to cut the live stream. Those people are, they're, they're just back
02:28at work, they're suspended, pending investigation, or...
02:30I've, I've told you they're facing consequences. You know, there are people who are going through
02:34a process. And that does take time, and you need to do it properly. Also, these are well-intentioned
02:38people who made a mistake. So, I need to be proportionate.
02:40Yep.
02:41But there are consequences.
02:42A report published in July upheld more than half the complaints made against former Masterchef
02:49host Greg Wallace, who had been accused of inappropriate sexual language, being partially
02:55undressed, and one case of unwanted physical contact.
02:58We're not mucking around now. You have to be clear, and to the earlier point you have to
03:03be fair, but if you're not living the values, it is clear you leave the BBC, or there are consequences.
03:07And you can see that among public figures, but that's happening internally as well. It's not
03:12overwhelming, as the government says. We do not have a toxic culture. If you look at most reports
03:18around the media where people recommend where they want to work, the BBC is probably the highest
03:21score, by the way. So, let's get proportionate. But we need to deal with those individuals,
03:26and we are. That's, that's a change.
03:27My view is that there's nobody on screen who's irreplaceable.
03:32No one's irreplaceable. You know, no one's irreplaceable. We're all dispensable.
03:36That's an absolute, unequivocal position being given to the whole BBC.
03:43Tim Davie told MPs the job of Director General was not for the faint-hearted.
03:48After a summer of scandals, and with the broadcaster's charter up for review,
03:53the BBC will be desperate to avoid any more crises.
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