Lisa Nandy said she wants clear assurances that the review will be thorough, detailed, and uncover the full truth about what happened. The Guardian
The culture secretary will meet with the BBC chair on Friday to discuss concerns over a documentary about the war in Gaza. The meeting comes after the BBC admitted to serious mistakes in making the film and apologized for its failures.
The controversy began when it was revealed that the documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was narrated by a 13-year-old boy whose father is a Hamas government minister. The BBC later confirmed that the independent production company behind the film, Hoyo Films, had paid the boy’s mother a small amount of money.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, said she would push for a full review of the situation. “The public expects the highest standards from the BBC,” she said. “I want to be sure that this review is thorough and uncovers exactly what went wrong.”
The BBC board met on Thursday to discuss the issue. After the meeting, a spokesperson admitted that mistakes were made both by the production company and by the BBC itself. “These errors are unacceptable, and we apologize,” they said. The BBC stressed that while the documentary was produced by an outside company, it still had full editorial responsibility.
The BBC had asked Hoyo Films several times whether the young narrator or his family had ties to Hamas. The production company later admitted it knew about the boy’s father but failed to inform the BBC. The broadcaster acknowledged its own failure in not discovering this fact before airing the documentary.
Concerns have also been raised over the payment made to the boy’s mother. The BBC is now investigating whether any money might have gone to Hamas or its affiliates.
Stuart Andrew, the shadow culture minister, has called for a full independent inquiry. He said any payments linked to Hamas should be investigated by police. “If public money ended up in the hands of Hamas, a criminal investigation is needed,” he said. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the UK government.
Former BBC executive Roger Mosey criticized the corporation for failing to spot the issue before the documentary aired. He said the mistakes were not just unfortunate accidents but showed that people had not done their jobs properly. “If you’re covering such a sensitive topic, you have to get it right,” he said.
Despite the controversy, Mosey rejected claims that the BBC is biased against Israel. “The BBC works hard to be fair on complex issues like this,” he said. However, he admitted that the incident had damaged the broadcaster’s reputation.
Following the backlash, the BBC has decided not to air the documentary again or make it available on its streaming platform.
