Roger Mosey, the former head of BBC television news, may be right that “basic rookie errors” were made over the BBC’s film featuring relatives of Hamas officials, but I doubt it’s that simple (Culture secretary to hold urgent meeting with BBC chair over Gaza film, 28 February). As a former TV commissioner, I have been asked to conduct investigations into editorial misdemeanours. In every case it came down either to a member of the production team having not been straight with the producer, or the producer not being straight with the broadcaster.
No matter how much small print is added to the contracts between broadcasters and producers, nothing works in factual programming without trust. Factual programmes throw up myriads of unforeseen problems that must be resolved between the film-makers and the broadcaster. But having resolved them and made the appropriate editorial changes, including adding missing information, these programmes were then broadcast without further issue.
