Nandy says BBC review of Gaza documentary must look at finance and translation

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called on the BBC to act on the failings in the broadcast of a Gaza documentary so “a serious error of this magnitude is not repeated” as she pushed for a review to include translation and finance issues.

Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone was removed from BBC iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.

The broadcaster apologised for the making of the programme, about children living in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, after conducting an initial review and it has launched a further internal probe.

The BBC said it is “seeking additional assurance“ from production company Hoyo Films after it admitted “they paid the boy’s mother, via his sister’s bank account, a limited sum of money for the narration”.

In a written statement to MPs, Ms Nandy said she has been “deeply shocked and disappointed”, after the BBC and its board recognised “a number of serious failings in their commissioning and editorial processes”.

She added this “damages vital trust in an organisation which must retain the confidence of the public”, and said she spoke to the BBC chairman Samir Shah, and told him of her “concerns” on Friday.

“While I appreciate that the BBC apologised for its failings, and the BBC board acknowledged that the mistakes were ‘significant and damaging’, it is vital that the BBC now takes action so that trust is restored and a serious error of this magnitude is not repeated,” she said.

“Reflecting the concerns of (the) House (of Commons) I sought assurances from the chair that the fact-finding review the BBC has commissioned will be swift and rigorous.

“I emphasised that it must include a robust financial audit and address concerns raised (by MPs) on translation. I made clear that the chair and his board must lead and hold the BBC robustly to account for resolving the issues already exposed, and implementing the review’s recommendations.”

She also said “the BBC has provided me with further information on their approach to enhanced compliance procedures but I have not yet received the full range of assurances” and “have requested further details and assurances and expect to be provided these by the BBC leadership urgently”.

“The duty to report on what is happening to people in Gaza is absolutely fundamental,” Ms Nandy also said.

“It is in no one’s interest for the public not to have confidence in the information that they are receiving.”

BBC director-general Tim Davie told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee he was “very sorry to the audience, because we don’t want to be in a position where we have flaws in the programme-making”.

He added to MPs on Tuesday that he has “overall” been “proud of the way we’re covering some of these polarised, fiendishly difficult events”.

Mr Davie also said that there had been around 500 complaints about the film being biased against Israel, and around 1,800 complaints wanted the film put back on iPlayer, and he is “not ruling anything out” on it returning to the BBC’s online streaming platform.

In a letter to the BBC on Monday, Ofcom chairman Lord Grade said the regulator could step in if an internal inquiry into the making of the documentary is not satisfactory.

Presenters Gary Lineker and Anita Rani, and actors Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes are among more the 500 media figures who had condemned the withdrawal from iPlayer.

Former BBC One controller Danny Cohen, who was among those wanting the BBC to pull the programme, has called for a full independent inquiry.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “We take these issues incredibly seriously which is why we have commissioned (director of editorial complaints and reviews) Peter Johnston to lead a full fact-finding review. That work has commenced.

“It is vital that this work moves quickly, but it must also be thorough and get to the answers we are seeking.”