The BBC has said it breached its editorial guidelines by failing to disclose that the child narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official.
A report into the controversial programme said three members of the independent production company knew about the role of the boy’s father – but no one within the BBC was aware.
The review called the failure to bring the information to the BBC’s attention a “significant oversight by the production company”.
The independent report – commissioned by the corporation – criticised the BBC team involved in the documentary for not being “sufficiently proactive” with initial editorial checks, and for a “lack of critical oversight of unanswered or partially answered questions” ahead of broadcast.
It described the background on the narrator’s father as “critical information”, which was not shared with the BBC before broadcast.
While the report said there was no evidence “to support the suggestion that the narrator’s father or family influenced the content of the programme in any way,” it concluded the use of a child narrator for the programme was “not appropriate”.
Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone aired on the BBC in February but was pulled from iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
How To Survive A Warzone was made by independent production company Hoyo Films, and features 13-year-old Abdullah al Yazouri, who speaks about life in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas.
The review was led by Peter Johnston, the BBC‘s director of editorial complaints and reviews, who reports directly to director general Tim Davie.
It found that a fee of £795 was paid for the narrator, paid to his sister. The report found that was not “outside the range of what might be reasonable in the context”.
The report did not name any individuals facing disciplinary action, but a new leadership role has been created in BBC News documentaries and current affairs, which the corporation say will be advertised in the next seven days.
While the BBC said the report found that Hoyo Films did not “intentionally” mislead the BBC, they said the independent production company “bears most responsibility for this failure”.
They added that the BBC also “bears some responsibility”.
Culture Secretary ‘pleased’ that ‘catastrophic’ failures acknowledged
Flagging “a significant failing” in the documentary, Mr Davie said, “I am sorry for this failing”.
He said action would now be taken to ensure “proper accountability” and also “prevent such errors being repeated”.
The BBC Board said: “Nothing is more important than trust and transparency in our journalism. We welcome the actions the Executive are taking to avoid this failing being repeated in the future.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she was “pleased” that the BBC has acknowledged “catastrophic” failures.
She said she had had “several meetings” with the corporation, adding, “I believe that they are acting now at pace to put in place measures to make sure that this cannot happen again”.
Children ‘deserve to have their voices heard,’ Hoyo Films says
Hoyo Films said they take the report findings “extremely seriously,” and also apologised.
They said they were “working closely with the BBC” to see if they could find a way to bring back parts of the documentary to iPlayer, adding: “Our team in Gaza risked their lives to document the devastating impact of war on children.
“Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone remains a vital account, and our contributors – who have no say in the conflict – deserve to have their voices heard.”
The BBC says it has no current or future planned commissions with HOYO Films.
Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee earlier this year, Mr Davie described the fallout over the documentary as “damaging,” and said the corporation “were not told” about questions asked around Abdullah’s father.
Media watchdog Ofcom previously warned that recent controversies could “start to erode public trust and confidence”.
Israel does not allow international news organisations into Gaza to report independently.