The BBC has indicated that its latest documentary about Gaza, which was pulled from the iPlayer after its narrator was revealed as the son of a Hamas official, could return to the platform in future.
Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone aired on BBC Two earlier this year but drew criticism after the teen narrator’s family ties to terror were not disclosed.
However, an report into the production by the corporation’s independent head of Editorial Complaints and Reviews, Peter Johnston, found that the film did not breach its impartiality guidelines.
While Johnston found that BBC News violated its Editorial Guidelines on accuracy by failing to inform the audience of “critical information”, he reported no breaches related to any other guideline.
And now it appears that both the BBC and Hoyo Films, the third-party production company that made the film, have indicated that they are looking to revive an edited version of the documentary on the iPlayer.
In its response to the report, Hoyo said it was “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”.
And a BBC spokesperson added: “Given the serious editorial breach identified in the production of Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, we do not think it is appropriate to reinstate the programme in its current form to iPlayer.
"However, as we said at the time, it is important to tell the story of what is happening in Gaza...We remain keen to tell the stories of those featured in the documentary and will now explore the possibility of doing this through re-edited and re-versioned shorter films for archive on iPlayer.”
The effort to resurrect the film comes despite an appearance by Dr Samir Shah CBE, chair of the BBC board, before Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, during which he said that there were “serious failings” in the production process before the documentary was aired.
He also called the resulting row a “dagger to the heart” of the corporation’s reputation with its viewers.
Despite that, it now appears unlikely that any senior figures will be sacked due to the scandal, as some Jewish and pro-Israel groups have campaigned for.
The BBC said it was “taking fair, clear and appropriate action... to ensure accountability” but declined to comment on any “individual confidential processes”.
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