The King is the Royal Patron of the RTS and the group of nearly 400 people have asked to meet with him and “demanded transparency” about the body’s decision-making process around its journalism awards.
The letter has been signed by BBC heavyweights including Jonathan Dimbleby, Orla Guerin and Fergal Keane, along with the likes of Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Matt Frei. Dimbleby branded the RTS “cowards” over the move.
The saga started with the RTS’ shock decision to scrap a special recognition award for journalists in Gaza due to not wanting to “add fuel to the fire” around Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, the BBC documentary that was pulled after it was revealed that the child narrator was the son of a Hamas minister. The move has been criticized since, resulting in this letter collated by the Artists for Palestine UK group.