LONDON (AP) 鈥 Britain's media regulator said Monday it will investigate a BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza, after a review concluded that the narrator's father has Hamas links and the program therefore breached editorial guidelines on accuracy.
The broadcaster removed the program, 鈥淕aza: How To Survive A Warzone,鈥 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鈥檚 deputy minister of agriculture.
Ofcom, the media regulator, said that it was launching an investigation under rules that state factual programs must not materially mislead the audience.
That came after a review by the broadcaster found that the independent production company that made the program didn't 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 didn't 鈥渋ntentionally鈥 mislead the BBC.
The review, conducted by the corporation's director of editorial complaints, found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including impartiality. There was no evidence of 鈥渙utside interests鈥 impacting on the program, it said.
Earlier this year, U.K. 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 鈥 as well as hundreds more criticizing the program's removal from its streaming service.
Directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh and actor Riz Ahmed were among 500 media figures who signed a letter published by Artists for Palestine UK saying a 鈥減olitical鈥 campaign to discredit the program risked dehumanizing Palestinian voices in the media.
Davie said that the report identified 鈥渁 significant failing鈥 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, 鈥淕aza: Medics Under Fire." They expressed concerns that the broadcaster wasn't reporting 鈥'without fear or favor' when it comes to Israel."
The decision suggested that the BBC was an 鈥渙rganization that is crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government,鈥 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 broadcaster for by , who led crowds at Glastonbury Festival in chanting 鈥渄eath鈥 to the Israeli military.
The Israel-Hamas war started after the militant group led an attack on southern 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鈥檚 offensive in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry.
The ministry, under Gaza鈥檚 Hamas-run government, doesn鈥檛 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.
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