The BBC has admitted to breaching its editorial guidelines by failing to reveal the narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official.
An independent probe into Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, was commissioned by the broadcaster earlier this year.
The review found it breached editorial guideline 3.3.17, on accuracy, by failing to disclose to audiences the “critical information” of the role the 13-year-old’s father had within the Hamas-run government.
The report found nobody at the BBC knew of the father’s position when the documentary first aired on February 17.
But three people at Hoyo Films, the independent production company which produced the film, were aware, it concluded.
It added the report does not find the production company misled the corporation, but does find the firm bears most of the responsibility for the failure.
The review found no other breaches of the guidelines.
This comes after BBC bosses were forced to withdraw the documentary from its iPlayer streaming service in February.
Anger grew after Beeb bosses initially tried to defend the programme, and blamed London-based production company Hoyo Films for not revealing the boy’s link.
The documentary was made by the BBC’s Current Affair TV arm which paid award-winning Hoyo Films to craft the production.
But it was still unclear why the boy’s appearance was allowed by the department’s commissioning editor Gian Quaglieni.
Ex-boss Danny Cohen – former director of BBC television – demanded clarity as to who was responsible and whether Hamas were given licence cash.
Mr Cohen said: “The BBC needs to account for every penny spent on this documentary – £400,000 is a lot of licence-fee payers money.
“They should be transparently told where their money went and whether any of it reached the hands of Hamas.
“The BBC must also launch a wider investigation into systemic bias against Israel after repeated editorial failures since the October 7 massacres.”
Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was pulled from iPlayer amid investigations[/caption]
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