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Fox News
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
BBC report finds Gaza documentary narrated by Hamas terrorist's son breached editorial standards
Print Close By David Spector Published July 15, 2025 An internal BBC report found Monday that a documentary on Gaza it aired in February violated the broadcaster's editorial standards for accuracy. The documentary "Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone," featured narration from a boy, 13, named Abdullah, but the film failed to disclose that Abdullah was the son of senior Hamas official Ayman Alyazouri. The BBC pulled the documentary from its online streaming platform in February, just five days after it was aired, and issued an apology. "Since the transmission of our documentary on Gaza, the BBC has become aware of the family connections of the film's narrator, a child called Abdullah. We've promised our audiences the highest standards of transparency, so it is only right that as a result of this new information, we add some more detail to the film before its retransmission. We apologise for the omission of that detail from the original film," the BBC said in a statement at the time. THE BBC BREACHED EDITORIAL GUIDELINES OVER 1,500 TIMES IN ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT, REPORT CLAIMS The documentary was widely condemned when it aired. Journalist David Collier, who broke the story of the narrator's connection to the terrorist group, called the BBC "a propaganda tool of Hamas." A group of 45 Jewish television professionals wrote a letter to the BBC urging them to pull the broadcast and called for an independent investigation. The new investigation found that the BBC was unaware of Abdullah's lineage prior to the documentary's broadcast, but three members of the production company Hoyo Films did know that the boy's father was a Hamas official. The probe, however, criticized the broadcaster for not being "sufficiently proactive" with its due diligence ahead of broadcast, and admonished it for a "lack of critical oversight of unanswered or partially answered questions" regarding the documentary ahead of broadcast. The review claimed that the use of the Hamas-linked narrator did not influence the content of the film, but said the inclusion of the boy was "not appropriate." "We are owning where we have made mistakes, finding out what went wrong, acting on the findings, and we've said we're sorry," BBC News CEO Deborah Turness told the BBC's Radio 4. The BBC has vowed to take steps to address the failure, including issuing new guidance on the use of narrators in documentaries centering on controversial topics, the creation of a new leadership role focusing on documentaries and a new review process that ensures that "no high-risk long form programs can be formally commissioned until all potential compliance considerations are considered and listed." 'CORROSIVELY WOKE' BBC CONTINUES TO BE PLAGUED WITH RETRACTIONS, APOLOGIES RELATED TO ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR "The BBC has a duty to uphold fairness, accuracy, and truth — it's one of the world's largest media organizations – yet it is failing. Its repeated claims that it takes antisemitism seriously have become meaningless. Enough words. What is needed now is decisive, meaningful action," Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sharren Haskel posted on X. This is not the first time that the BBC has had to issue an apology regarding its coverage of Israel in the context of its current war with Hamas after the October 7 attacks. The BBC was one of several news organizations that rushed to report false claims made by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry that Israel had bombed the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, resulting in 500 civilian casualties, shortly after the terrorist attack. In November 2023, the BBC apologized after misquoting a Reuters report and distorting a quote by an IDF spokesman claiming the IDF was "targeting people including medical teams as well as Arab speakers" in Gaza's Al Shifa hospital. The IDF spokesman had actually said that Arab-speaking soldiers were on the ground to ensure aid made its way to the hospital. The BBC apologized for reporting unproven claims about Israel carrying out "summary executions" of Gaza civilians in January 2024. In February 2025, the BBC apologized after its anchor Nicky Schiller referred to Israeli hostages as "prisoners" on air. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE The BBC once again issued an apology in March 2025 after contacting the Israeli embassy and requesting a guest who would be "critical of Netanyahu," calling the incident a "serious mistake." Most recently, the BBC apologized after airing Bob Vylan's performance at Glastonbury, in which the punk rocker called for "death to the IDF." "We deeply regret that such offensive and deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC and want to apologise to our viewers and listeners and in particular the Jewish community. We are also unequivocal that there can be no place for antisemitism at, or on, the BBC," the BBC said in a statement. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The BBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Print Close URL
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
BBC adviser asked ‘is documentary clean of Hamas'? Bosses never bothered to reply
The BBC's Gaza documentary was declared to be 'all clean of Hamas', despite its narrator being the son of a Hamas minister, a report has found. Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was categorised as a 'high risk' project by the BBC, yet was broadcast without crucial questions being answered. A month before the broadcast, an editorial policy adviser at the BBC asked: 'Has due diligence been done on those featured to ensure, e.g. the lead boy doesn't have links in any way to [Hamas]? I'm sure it has…' The question was never answered, but the programme went ahead. Three members of Hoyo Films, the independent production company that made the documentary, knew the narrator's family background but did not tell the BBC about it, the report found. They paid Abdullah Alyazouri's family £795 for his contribution, and also gave him a gift card for a computer game and a second-hand mobile phone, to a total value of £1,817. The day after the documentary was broadcast, it emerged that Abdullah, the 13-year-old narrator, was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a deputy minister for agriculture in the Hamas-led government. An internal review conducted by Peter Johnston, the BBC's director of editorial complaints, ruled that the documentary breached editorial guidelines on accuracy by failing to disclose 'critical information' about Abdullah's family history. But it cleared the BBC of breaching impartiality guidelines, despite Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, earlier saying that the row was a 'dagger to the heart' of the broadcaster's reputation for impartiality. Ofcom announced that it was launching an investigation into the BBC 'under our rule which states that factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience'. Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs, apologised for the 'mistake' but refused to say whether anyone would face the sack. She viewed the documentary at a special screening ahead of its television broadcast, but defended her role. She said: 'I didn't know then what I know now.' 'Unflinching' documentary Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone was billed as an 'unflinching' documentary narrated by Abdullah, a Palestinian boy living in the so-called 'safe zone'. It was broadcast on Feb 17. 'My name is Abdullah. I'm 13 years old. I'm stuck here in Gaza. Have you ever wondered what you'd do if your world was destroyed?' he asks, leading viewers through the rubble. He explains that he attended 'the best school in Gaza, the British school' but now lives in a tent. Other children featured in the film include Renad, a young girl who presents a TikTok cookery show, and Zakaria, an 11-year-old who works as a fixer at one of Gaza's hospitals. The documentary includes scenes from inside the hospital, including a doctor in an operating theatre holding up a severed arm and shouting: 'Look what the Israelis are doing to the children of Gaza.' Jamie Roberts and Yousef Hammash, the film's two directors, remotely directed two Gazan cameramen, as Israel does not allow foreign journalists to operate inside Gaza. What the filmmakers knew Hoyo Films, the production company engaged by the BBC, spotted Abdullah on Channel 4 in April 2024 and approached him to become a contributor. Two months later, they submitted a 'taster' tape to the BBC in which he appeared prominently. By July, three members of the production company – the director, the co-director and one crew member in Gaza – had become aware that Abdullah's father was Ayman Alyazouri, according to the report. They met the father in August to gain permission to film Abdullah. But Hoyo did not at any stage share Abdullah's family background with the BBC. Interviewed for the report, they claimed to have reached a view that Abdullah's father was in 'a civilian or technocratic position', rather than a political or military one. This was supported by the fact that, when they met him, Mr Alyazouri was moving openly around Gaza and not taking security precautions. In addition, the Gazan civil government – other than the health ministry – had not been functioning since 2023, so they considered him to be 'no longer in employment'. The report noted: 'The production company was also under the impression, whether rightly or wrongly, that there was a clear distinction between officials and ministers working for the Gazan civil government and Hamas.' BBC failures The BBC identified early on in the production that the documentary carried 'reputational risk' and a 'due impartiality challenge', adding it to the internal managed risk programme list. One of the commissioning editors sought advice from BBC colleagues who identified the need for due diligence and background checks on the contributors and crew, including potential links or affiliations to Hamas. The editorial policy unit was consulted for advice, and provided notes. One adviser from the unit asked on Dec 19 last year: 'I presume we have checked out the bona fides of the people we use?' On Jan 8, a BBC commissioning editor sent a WhatsApp to Hoyo asking if there was a paper trail on the background checking of contributors. Hoyo replied: 'No – we did a social media check with those that are online and [a] check with local community members – all clean of Hamas.' On Jan 12, they asked: 'Has due diligence been done on those featured to ensure e.g. the lead boy doesn't have links in any way to [Hamas]? I'm sure it has…' And on Jan 15, a note from a member of the BBC commissioning team asked if anyone had checked Abdullah's family background. But at a zoom meeting on Jan 22 to address any outstanding issues, these last two questions were not answered. The report found that the production company carried most of the responsibility for the failure to inform the BBC but that it did not intentionally mislead the broadcaster. However, it added that putting Abdullah forward as the narrator – given his background – was wrong. But it also said the BBC 'bears some responsibility', first for being 'insufficiently proactive' in failing to scrutinise the role of the narrator at an early stage, and then for its 'lack of critical oversight of unanswered or partially answered questions'. The BBC should not have signed off on the film without having the answer to every question, the report concluded. Narrator's payment Abdullah's adult sister was paid a £795 'disturbance fee' for his participation in the programme, while Abdullah was given a second-hand mobile phone and a gift card for a computer game – together, this amounted to a total value of £1,817. The production company said the money was intended for Abdullah's mother, as his legal guardian, but was paid via the sister as the mother did not have a Bank of Palestine account. In his report, Mr Johnston concluded: 'I do not consider the amount or purpose of any of these payments to have been outside of the range of what might be reasonable.' The fallout Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, previously asked why nobody had been fired over the documentary, although her language on Monday was noticeably calmer. Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, said he was sorry for the 'significant failing' in relation to accuracy. Ofcom launched its own investigation into whether audiences were misled. The BBC promised 'accountability' but Ms Turness refused to be drawn on whether anyone would lose their job over the mistakes. She apologised for the error but sought to blame Hoyo Films, saying: 'The questions should have been answered by the independent production company at the many times of asking.' As for the future of the documentary, it may be re-edited into shorter films that could be made available on iPlayer.
North Wales Chronicle
a day ago
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
What did the review of the BBC Gaza documentary find?
The programme, Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who held a senior post in the Hamas-run government. Here are the findings of a report into the programme: – Failure to disclose information The BBC breached its editorial guidelines by not informing viewers that the narrator's father has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. This omission was considered misleading and a breach of accuracy standards. – Members of the production company knew The report found that nobody at the BBC knew of the father's position when the documentary first aired, but three people at Hoyo Films, the independent production company which produced the film, were aware. The report does not find that the production company misled the BBC, but said that the firm bears most of the responsibility for the failure. – The BBC was not proactive The report said that the corporation does bear some responsibility for 'not being proactive in the early phase of the project to ensure that the relevant editorial risks were fully discussed and that the production company had the guidance, direction and support it needed'. It said that the BBC also had a 'lack of critical oversight of unanswered or partially answered questions'. – Narrator's role was problematic The narration was 'highly scripted' and carried the right of reply of the Israel Defence Forces, so it was 'wrong' to use the narrator as the voice of the programme given his background, the report said. There should have been more comprehensive scrutiny by the BBC about his role earlier in the production process, the report added. – No influence on programme content There was no evidence that the narrator's family or father influenced the content of the programme. The narrator's scripted contribution did not breach impartiality standards, the report said. – Payment and checks The narrator received a fee, a phone and a video game gift card which all amounted to £1,817, while £795 was paid to his adult sister. Sanctions checks on the narrator and family found no issues. – No other editorial breaches found There were no other breaches of the guidelines on issues of due impartiality, language and translation, continuity and editing, fairness to contributors and consent, privacy, harm and offence, and child safeguarding, the report found. The programme contained a range of views and rights of reply and there was no evidence of any outside interests inappropriately affecting the programme. – Recommendations The report recommended stronger BBC oversight for 'higher risk' independent productions, including embedding executives, formal greenlight meetings, improved compliance tracking and enhanced scrutiny of narrators. It added: 'It is clear that actioning these recommendations would require more senior executive oversight and scrutiny for the higher-risk projects. This requires consideration of resourcing by BBC News.'
The National
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Ofcom to investigate BBC editorial guidelines breach in Gaza film
The regulator said it had examined the BBC report and would be investigating under its broadcasting code, which states that factual programmes 'must not materially mislead the audience'. OFCOM has announced it will investigate the BBC's Gaza : How To Survive A Warzone documentary after a review found it had breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy . An Ofcom spokesperson said: 'Having examined the BBC's findings, we are launching an investigation under our rule which states that factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience.' The programme was removed from BBC iPlayer in February after it emerged that the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. READ MORE: 'Patients are dying inside Gaza,' warns MSF amid medical evacuation delays The review, conducted by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, which is independent of BBC News, said the programme was in breach of accuracy for 'failing to disclose information about the child narrator's father's position within the Hamas-run government'. The corporation said 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. But the review found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including breaches of impartiality, and also found no evidence that outside interests 'inappropriately impacted on the programme'. The report said that 'careful consideration of the requirements of due impartiality was undertaken in this project given the highly contested nature of the subject matter'. Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which also aired on BBC Two, was made for the BBC by independent production company Hoyo Films. The detail of the background information regarding the narrator's father is deemed as 'critical information', which the report said was not shared with the BBC before broadcast. However, it further added that the BBC also 'bears some responsibility'. The narrator's scripted contribution to the programme also did not breach BBC standards on due impartiality, the report said, adding: 'I have also not seen or heard any evidence to support a suggestion that the narrator's father or family influenced the content of the programme in any way.' But the use of a child narrator for this programme was 'wrong', the report added. It explained that in this instance, the narrator 'was put in a position where his narration had to be highly scripted (meaning there was a limited portrayal of his background, story and life) and where he had to carry the rights-of-reply of others, in particular the IDF. 'In light of what the production company knew about the narrator's family and background, putting him forward as the voice of the programme as it was scripted was wrong in my view.' READ MORE: 'He's not welcome here': Protest announced for Donald Trump's UK state visit The BBC's director-general Tim Davie said: 'Peter Johnston's report identifies a significant failing in relation to accuracy in this documentary. I thank him for his thorough work and I am sorry for this failing. 'We will now take action on two fronts – fair, clear and appropriate actions to ensure proper accountability and the immediate implementation of steps to prevent such errors being repeated.' The BBC Board said: 'We thank Peter Johnston for his work. His report is a comprehensive examination of a complex programme, the production of which spanned many months from concept through to broadcast – and is critical in laying bare the facts of what happened. '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.' Hoyo Films said in a statement that they take the report findings 'extremely seriously' and 'apologise for the mistake that resulted in a breach of the (BBC) editorial guidelines'. They added: 'We are pleased that the report found that there was no evidence of inappropriate influence on the content of the documentary from any third party. 'We appreciate the rigorous nature of this investigation, and its findings that Hoyo Films did not intentionally mislead the BBC, that there were no other breaches of the editorial guidelines in the programme, and that there was no evidence to suggest that the programme funds were spent other than for reasonable, production-related purposes. 'Hoyo Films welcomes the report's recommendations and hope they will improve processes and prevent similar problems in the future. 'We are working closely with the BBC to see if we can find an appropriate way to bring back to iPlayer the stories of those featured in the programme. '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.' It comes as it was announced that Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah will face questions from MPs over the documentary, the investigation into allegations of misconduct made against Gregg Wallace, and its Glastonbury Festival coverage of Bob Vylan and Kneecap. The pair will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on September 9.
South Wales Argus
2 days ago
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Ofcom to investigate after Gaza documentary breached BBC editorial guidelines
The regulator said it had examined the BBC report and would be investigating under its broadcasting code, which states that factual programmes 'must not materially mislead the audience'. An Ofcom spokesperson said: 'Having examined the BBC's findings, we are launching an investigation under our rule which states that factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience.' The programme was removed from BBC iPlayer in February 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 review, conducted by Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, which is independent of BBC News, said the programme was in breach of accuracy for 'failing to disclose information about the child narrator's father's position within the Hamas-run government'. But the review found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including breaches of impartiality, and also found no evidence that outside interests 'inappropriately impacted on the programme'. The report said that 'careful consideration of the requirements of due impartiality was undertaken in this project given the highly contested nature of the subject matter'. Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, which also aired on BBC Two, was made for the BBC by independent production company Hoyo Films. The detail of the background information regarding the narrator's father is deemed as 'critical information', which the report said was not shared with the BBC before broadcast. The report found that Hoyo Films did not 'intentionally' mislead the BBC about the position of the narrator's father, but said the independent production company 'bears most responsibility for this failure'. However, it further added that the BBC also 'bears some responsibility'. The report detailed that at the time the programme first aired the information regarding the position of the narrator's father was known only by three members of the production company, 'but not anyone within the BBC'. It said: 'In light of this inequality of information and the opportunities that the production company had to bring this information to the BBC's attention, which it did not take, the production company is the party with most responsibility for this failure. 'However, I do not consider that the production company intentionally misled the BBC about the narrator's father's position. 'The production company has been consistently transparent that, notwithstanding their belief that the father's position was a civilian or technocratic one, as opposed to a political or military position in Hamas, they made a mistake and should have informed the BBC about it.' The narrator's scripted contribution to the programme also did not breach BBC standards on due impartiality, the report said, adding: 'I have also not seen or heard any evidence to support a suggestion that the narrator's father or family influenced the content of the programme in any way.' But the use of a child narrator for this programme was 'wrong', the report added. It explained that in this instance, the narrator 'was put in a position where his narration had to be highly scripted (meaning there was a limited portrayal of his background, story and life) and where he had to carry the rights-of-reply of others, in particular the IDF. 'In light of what the production company knew about the narrator's family and background, putting him forward as the voice of the programme as it was scripted was wrong in my view.' The BBC's director-general Tim Davie said: 'Peter Johnston's report identifies a significant failing in relation to accuracy in this documentary. I thank him for his thorough work and I am sorry for this failing. 'We will now take action on two fronts – fair, clear and appropriate actions to ensure proper accountability and the immediate implementation of steps to prevent such errors being repeated.' The BBC Board said: 'We thank Peter Johnston for his work. His report is a comprehensive examination of a complex programme, the production of which spanned many months from concept through to broadcast – and is critical in laying bare the facts of what happened. '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.' Hoyo Films said in a statement that they take the report findings 'extremely seriously' and 'apologise for the mistake that resulted in a breach of the (BBC) editorial guidelines'. They added: 'We are pleased that the report found that there was no evidence of inappropriate influence on the content of the documentary from any third party. 'We appreciate the rigorous nature of this investigation, and its findings that Hoyo Films did not intentionally mislead the BBC, that there were no other breaches of the editorial guidelines in the programme, and that there was no evidence to suggest that the programme funds were spent other than for reasonable, production-related purposes. 'Hoyo Films welcomes the report's recommendations and hope they will improve processes and prevent similar problems in the future. 'We are working closely with the BBC to see if we can find an appropriate way to bring back to iPlayer the stories of those featured in the programme. '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.' It comes as it was announced that Mr Davie and BBC chairman Samir Shah will face questions from MPs over the documentary, the investigation into allegations of misconduct made against Gregg Wallace, and its Glastonbury Festival coverage of Bob Vylan and Kneecap. The pair will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on September 9.
