The Film the BBC Wouldn’t Air

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

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4.7 • 218 Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

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Summary

Two veteran journalists set out to document Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s health care system: hospitals attacked, medical workers killed, doctors detained and held for long periods without criminal charges. The BBC had commissioned the film.

But their Palestinian sources in Gaza and the West Bank were skeptical.

“We really had to try and persuade them…to talk to us because they didn’t—and don’t—trust the BBC,” says reporter Ramita Navai.

One source doubted the BBC would air the film. “And I was quite shocked he felt that way,” says reporter Ben de Pear. “But actually, he was 100 percent right.”

Over the last couple of years, big media organizations have been criticized—from the left and the right—about their coverage of the war in Gaza. But it’s rare to get the chance to peel back the curtain to see what exactly was happening inside one of those organizations to learn whether political pressure played a role in journalistic decision-making.

This week on Reveal, we’re partnering with the KCRW podcast Question Everything to tell the story of a film the BBC wouldn’t air and what it says about the future of journalism.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal. I'm Al Lezen.
0:09.3	Roughly a week ago, President Donald Trump ordered military attacks on Iran.
0:15.2	It seems ironic because just a few weeks before in mid-February, Trump held his first Board of Peace meeting.
0:23.5	It was largely focused on rebuilding Gaza.
0:26.5	In it, his administration promised an opulent vision of a new Gaza, filled with futuristic
0:32.3	buildings and coastal tourism. But the reality on the ground is much darker.
0:39.9	Millions of tons of debris have yet to be cleared away. Nearly one and a half million Palestinians are still displaced or living
0:45.5	in tents. More than 600 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli strikes since the ceasefire
0:51.7	in October, according to local health officials.
0:55.1	And Gaza's health care system remains devastated.
0:59.5	Ramida Nevae and Ben DePere have been reporting on Israel's attacks on hospitals and
1:04.4	health care workers in Gaza since April 2024.
1:08.1	They began soon after the Israeli military completed a two-week raid of the largest medical
1:14.1	complex, Al-Shifa Hospital. According to the Geneva Convention, targeting hospitals and medical
1:20.3	personnel intentionally that violates international law, and it could be a war crime. And as the
1:27.0	weeks went on, Israel appeared to be doing this more
1:30.3	and more. Remita and Ben are veteran journalists. They wanted to get a team on the ground in Gaza to see
1:36.7	what was happening to health care facilities and get it out to the world. So they partnered with the BBC
1:42.2	to produce an hour-long documentary film, which would give
1:45.7	the story a huge audience. This is Ramita.
1:49.0	At the time, I absolutely believed in the BBC. There are great people at the BBC, and I still
1:55.0	believe in it as an organization. But I really, really believed in it fully then.
	...

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