BBC must ensure Gaza programme errors ‘are not repeated,’ warns Culture Secretary

5 March 2025, 12:51 | Updated: 5 March 2025, 13:21

The BBC must take steps to ensure the mistakes it made in a recent Gaza documentary are not repeated, the Culture Secretary has warned.

The BBC has been roundly criticised for the film, titled Gaza: How to Survive in a War Zone, which was made for the broadcaster by a separate production company, after several links to Hamas emerged.

It came to light that the film's child narrator was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas' deputy minister of agriculture.

The film, which looks at life in Gaza since Israel launched its assault in 2023, has since been withdrawn from the BBC's platforms and the cooperation has apologised.

Read more: BBC chief suggests controversial TV show on Gaza could still be reinstated

Speaking today, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy warned the BBC must take steps to ensure it never repeats the same mistakes it did with this film.

She said: "Last week I spoke to the House about concerning issues associated with the BBC documentary “Gaza: How to Survive in a War Zone”.

"At that time I promised to keep the House informed about my conversations with the BBC on this issue and the progress of their investigation. Since then I have been deeply shocked and disappointed to see the further details which emerged from the BBC’s statement published on 27 February 2025.

"As the BBC themselves and their Board recognise, there have clearly been a number of serious failings in their commissioning and editorial processes. This damages vital trust in an organisation which must retain the confidence of the public.

BBC boss ‘not ruling out’ controversial Gaza documentary returning to iPlayer

"After the BBC issued its statement last Thursday evening, I called an urgent meeting with the BBC Chair, which took place on Friday.

"In that meeting I expressed my concerns, and the concerns expressed in this House last Thursday, about the events surrounding this documentary. While I appreciate that the BBC apologised for its failings, and the BBC Board acknowledged that the mistakes were 'significant and damaging', it is vital that the BBC now takes action so that trust is restored and a serious error of this magnitude is not repeated.

"Reflecting the concerns of this House I sought assurances from the Chair that the fact-finding review the BBC has commissioned will be swift and rigorous. I emphasised that it must include a robust financial audit and address concerns raised in the House on translation.

"I made clear that the Chair and his Board must lead and hold the BBC robustly to account for resolving the issues already exposed, and implementing the review’s recommendations."

It comes after the BBC suggested the documentary could be reinstated following an internal investigation.

The corporation's Director General Tim Davie said there is "a lot of frustration and disappointment" that the BBC Gaza documentary has affected public trust in the corporation.

He told MPs: "Firstly, I'd say nothing's more important than we're trusted and we have actually built trust... so you can imagine that there's a lot of frustration and disappointment. It's not about the BBC and people like myself, but we're very sorry to the audience, because we don't want to be in a position where we have flaws in the programme-making.

"And overall, I am proud of the way we're covering some of these polarised, fiendishly difficult events where many of our journalists, as you know, are under enormous pressure, ferocious lobbying, and it's been extremely difficult."

However, he acknowledged that there were "flaws" with this documentary and said they have had around 500 complaints about the film being biased against Israel, and around 1,800 who wanted the film being put back on iPlayer.