A review finds a BBC Gaza documentary breached editorial guidelines

LONDON (AP) – A BBC documentary about children’s lives in Gaza breached editorial guidelines on accuracy because it failed to disclose that the program was narrated by the son of a Hamas official, according to a report published Monday.

The broadcaster removed the program, “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone,” from its streaming service in February after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

A review found that the independent production company that made the program did not share the background information regarding the narrator’s father with the BBC. It said that the production company, Hoyo Films, bears most responsibility for the failure, though it did not “intentionally” mislead the BBC.

The review, conducted by the corporation’s director of editorial complaints and reviews, found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including impartiality. There was no evidence of “outside interests” impacting on the program, it said.

Earlier this year, Britain’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy questioned why no one at the BBC had lost their job over the program’s airing.

The broadcaster’s Director-General Tim Davie had told lawmakers that the BBC received hundreds of complaints alleging that the documentary was biased against Israel, as well as hundreds more criticizing the program’s removal from its streaming service.

Davie said Monday that the report identified “a significant failing” in relation to accuracy in the documentary. Hoyo Films apologized for the mistake. Both firms said they would prevent similar errors in the future.

Separately, more than 100 BBC journalists wrote a letter to Davie earlier this month criticizing its decision not to air another documentary, “Gaza: Medics Under Fire.” They expressed concerns that the broadcaster was not reporting “‘without fear or favour’ when it comes to Israel.”

The decision suggested that the BBC was an “organization that is crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government,” that letter said.

The BBC has been under intense scrutiny for its coverage touching on the war in Gaza. Last month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and others condemned the corporation for livestreaming a performance by rap punk duo Bob Vylan, who led crowds at Glastonbury Festival in chanting “death” to the Israeli military.

The 21-month Israel-Hamas war started after the militant group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Most of the hostages have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.