BBC bosses' sluggish response to failings on Israel-Palestine coverage presents a "real risk" for the broadcaster, the head of media watchdog Ofcom has said.
Melanie Dawes told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show that the BBC had been guilty of “own goals” in its reporting – and declined to give executives her support.
Dawes was asked about her past comments on the BBC after it broadcast a Glastonbury set by punk rap duo Bob Vylan, including their chants of “death, death to the IDF” [Israel Defense Forces].
The broadcast saw BBC complaints hit a four-year high for a single issue, and senior members of staff were reported to have stepped back from their roles.
Asked if she was satisfied with the BBC’s response, Dawes said: “I think it's very frustrating that the BBC has had some own goals in this area, with the Gaza documentary and then with the Glastonbury coverage. It does start to erode public trust and confidence.
“I think I would say that above all, what frustrates me and others is that when these things go wrong, it can take a long time for the BBC to see that something's happened when everybody else was there within a matter of hours.
“So I would say to the BBC, I think they need to get a grip quicker, get these reports and investigations concluded sooner, otherwise, there is a real risk of a sort of loss of confidence in the BBC, which is a shame because what the BBC does day by day is bring some really high quality journalism to our screens and to the radio, which is what we need.”
The Gaza documentary referenced could have been one of two. First was How to Survive a Warzone, a film which the BBC broadcast before withdrawing from the iPlayer service amid anger at the young narrator being the son of an Hamas official.
Second was Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, which the BBC refused to show altogether, leading to accusations of "political suppression". Channel 4 eventually stepped in and broadcast the film instead.
Speaking on the Kuenssberg show, Dawes was then asked if she had faith in the BBC leadership.
The Ofcom head responded: “I think it's a tough job to be at the top of the BBC.
“I think the board and the senior team at the BBC, need to, as I said, get a bit quicker actually at recognising when something's gone wrong and get a grip of the actions that they need to take, or there is going to be a real risk that the BBC loses confidence in what it delivers for the public.”
Pushed if she had faith in them to do so, Dawes added: “Well, we're going to have to see over the next week.
“I think it is important to also recognise that they do deliver a very high quality job for the public usually, but it's these own goals that are very frustrating, which they need to be quicker to get onto, quicker to grip, and quicker to put right.”
Writing in the Observer on Sunday, Ben de Pear and Ramita Navai, the executive producers of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, detailed how the BBC had obfuscated on broadcasting the film it had commissioned, eventually cutting it altogether.
Previously, de Pear, a former Channel 4 news editor, had hit out at BBC director general Tim Davie, calling him "just a PR person ... taking editorial decisions which, frankly, he is not capable of making".
