325 TV, journalism professionals demand reinstatement of special award recognising Gaza’s journalists

Some 325 TV and journalism professionals have sent a letter to the leadership of the Royal Television Society (RTS) demanding transparency around its decision-making after the charity abruptly cancelled its Special Award for journalists in Gaza last week.

British broadcasters Jonathan Dimbleby, Lindsey Hilsum, Sangita Myska, Matt Frei, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Alex Crawford, Fergal Keane and Orla Guerin are among those who signed a letter which “strongly urges” the RTS to reinstate the Special Award at their forthcoming Television Awards ceremony on 25 March.

The program-makers, who include Channel 4’s chief correspondent Alex Thompson, executive producer and former editor of Channel 4 News Ben de Pear, Oscar-winning directors Kevin MacDonald and Asif Kapadia, and RTS- and Emmy-winning director Ramita Navai, say the RTS’ decision to cancel the award “reveals a concerning lack of independence, due process and accountability.”

The group has copied their letter to King Charles, Royal Patron of the RTS, and requested to meet with him.

The letter seeks answers regarding the timeline of the charity’s decision making that led to the cancellation of the Special Award and it questions whether due process can have been followed.

The media workers say that Palestinian journalists are “dying in unprecedented numbers in order to bring the news to British screens.”They say that despite the extreme challenges journalists in Gaza face, their work has “made a profound impact, showcasing resourcefulness, creativity, and enterprise under extreme conditions, which the RTS itself values in its awards criteria.”

The signatories, who include multiple RTS members, award-winners and former judges, question the standard of scrutiny to which Palestinian journalists, uniquely, are held to. They ask:

Is the RTS suggesting that everyone in Gaza, and specifically its journalists, can be assumed to be guilty of something and must be proven innocent before they are worthy of recognition for their hard work and sacrifices? Has the RTS ever applied this standard to any other groups of journalists anywhere else in the world?

Further, the programme-makers demand the charity disclose any third party pressure to scrap the award.

“Where lobbying was done by special interest groups, were any efforts made to seek out counter-balancing sources or views and were those also taken into consideration?” they ask.

Separately, Sky journalist Alex Crawford took to X on Monday to criticise a statement by the Board of Deputies of British Jews that said that its president had spoken to RTS CEO Theresa White about “certain nominations”. Crawford praised Palestinian journalists in Gaza for their bravery and described the Board’s intervention as “outrageous pressure”.

Outrageous pressure on @RTS_media to withdraw an award recognising the incredible work of our brave Palestinians colleagues whose material every single media outlet relies on and uses? 100’s have been killed say @pressfreedom @RSF_inter @NUJofficial @hrw 🧵 https://t.co/Xg2zi3YIVU

— Alex Crawford (@AlexCrawfordSky) March 10, 2025

READ: Amnesty honours Gaza journalists with 2024 Human Rights Defenders Award