The BBC Board has identified serious flaws in the making of the programme Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone and as a result it has no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer.
This follows an initial review following complaints on its approach to the programme.
The BBC Board met on Friday.
It says, “The subject matter of the documentary was clearly a legitimate area to explore, but nothing is more important than trust and transparency in our journalism. While the Board appreciates that mistakes can be made, the mistakes here are significant and damaging to the BBC.
“The Board has required the Executive to report back at the earliest opportunity on the outcomes of the work the director-general has commissioned.”
The director-general has since asked for complaints on this matter to be expedited to the Executive Complaints Unit, which is separate from BBC News.
Independent review
Alongside this, a full fact-finding review will be undertaken; the director-general has asked Peter Johnston to lead this work.
Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, is independent of BBC News and reports directly to the director-general.
He will consider all of the complaints and issues that have been raised and determine whether any editorial guidelines have been broken; rapidly address the complaints that have been made; and enable the BBC to determine whether any disciplinary action is warranted about shortcomings in the making of this programme.
This will include issues around the use of language, translation and continuity that have also been raised with the BBC.
Family connections to narrator
One of the core questions is around the family connections of the young boy who is the narrator of the film, with it being said that the boy was the son of a senior Hamas official.
During the production process, the independent production company was asked in writing several times by the BBC, about any potential connections he and his family might have with Hamas.
“Since transmission, they have acknowledged that they knew that the boy’s father was a Deputy Agriculture Minister in the Hamas Government; they have also acknowledged that they never told the BBC this fact.
“It was then the BBC’s failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired,” says the statement.
Payment for the narration
The BBC further says, “Hoyo Films have told us that they paid the boy’s mother, via his sister’s bank account, a limited sum of money for the narration.
“While Hoyo Films have assured us that no payments were made to members of Hamas or its affiliates, either directly, in kind, or as a gift, the BBC is seeking additional assurance around the budget of the programme and will undertake a full audit of expenditure.
“We are requesting the relevant financial accounts of the production company to do that.”
Criticism continued about the programme’s subtitling choices – including contributors using the Arabic word for “Jews” on camera, which was translated in the subtitles as “Israelis” or “Israeli army”
Damaged trust
While the BBC states that some of the shortcomings were made by the production company, and some by the BBC, all of them are unacceptable.
“BBC News takes full responsibility for these and the impact that these have had on the Corporation’s reputation. We apologise for this.”
In a statement, it says that nothing is more important than the trust that their audiences have in its journalism.
“This incident has damaged that trust. While the intent of the documentary was aligned with our purpose – to tell the story of what is happening around the world, even in the most difficult and dangerous places – the processes and execution of this programme fell short of our expectations.”
The BBC says that although the programme was made by an independent production company that was commissioned to deliver a fully compliant documentary, it has ultimate editorial responsibility for this programme as broadcast.
Hoyo’s director, Jamie Roberts, who made the documentary, has no experience in the Middle East. However, in making the documentary, he worked with 2024’s Bafta and an Emmy winner, Palestinian journalist Yousef Hammash.
Roberts has made a film for the BBC about the Ukraine war and won an Emmy award for his film about the evacuation of Kabul, and he has been award-nominated for a powerful documentary about the events of 6 January in the US.
