The Royal Television Society (RTS) has reinstated its special recognition award for journalists in Gaza, reversing its earlier decision to cancel it during the Television Journalism Awards in the UK last week.
In a statement on Friday via Deadline, the media body said it would be “discussing how this will take place” following outrage in the UK and among Palestinian journalists, who felt their voices were being silenced in their reporting on Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza.
Deadline previously reported that the RTS wrote in an internal email that it did not want to “add fuel to the fire” by highlighting the work of Palestinian journalists in the war-torn enclave.
The decision followed controversy over the BBC documentary ‘Gaza: How to Survive in a War Zone‘, which was removed from the BBC iPlayer platform under pro-Israel pressure. The documentary faced criticism for featuring its 14-year-old narrator, Abdullah Al-Yazouri, the son of Gaza’s deputy agriculture minister Ayman Al-Yazouri, whose civilian role was interpreted as a link to Hamas.
In response to a recent letter signed by over 300 prominent British media figures, including Channel 4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and actress Miriam Margolyes, RTS confirmed that the award will proceed after further deliberation.
“A decision was taken not to present the Special Award at the Royal Television Society Journalism Awards. At that time, it was felt strongly that there was potential at the ceremony on the night for the recent controversy around some Gaza coverage to overshadow the award,” the RTS said.
“Following the decision to pause the presentation of the award, the RTS met this week as part of the Society’s previously announced review process. The Society remains committed to recognising the work of journalists in Gaza and will be making the Special Award. It is discussing how this will take place.”
Following the RTS’s reversal, the UK Screen Industry welcomed the decision but criticised the media body for not addressing concerns directly.
“The RTS now claims the award was simply ‘paused’ due to unspecified ‘potential for controversy’ — a claim that has never previously been mentioned,” the UK Screen Industry said in a statement published by the British activist group Artists for Palestine UK.
“It also refers to a ‘previously announced review process,’ of which we are entirely unaware.”
The group called for the award to be presented at the RTS Programme Awards on 25 March, with the full recognition and honour those journalists deserve.
“This mishandling has damaged not just the RTS’s reputation but that of the British media as a whole,” the UK Screen Industry added. “Today’s reversal is just the first step. The RTS must now undertake a full organisational review in consultation with the industry it claims to represent.”
Veteran British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby had also criticised the RTS for initially cancelling the award, calling its executives “cowards,” as reported by The Telegraph.
