The British Broadcasting Corporation (BCC) was forced to apologise and publish an explanation after unintentionally profiled the son of a Hamas member in a Gaza documentary.
On Monday, the network premiered the film “Gaza: How to the Wozone.” The film followed four young people, ages 10-24, living in Gaza during the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. One of the subjects included Abdullah, 13 years old.
The film faced a backlash shortly after investigative journalist David Collier revealed that Abdullah was actually the son of Hamas' Deputy Agriculture Minister.
“I've said @BBCNews has become Hamas' propaganda tool. Here's the evidence. I'll sit down and keep holding onto something,” he wrote in X-thread on Tuesday.
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on wednesday, The BBC issued a statement They say they will clarify the backstory of Abdullah and add new text to the film, which apologises for not doing so in advance.
“Since the transmission of the documentary on Gaza, the BBC has been aware of the family connections of a child called Abdullah, the film's narrator,” the description read. “We have committed to the highest level of transparency for our audiences, so as a result of this new information, it is correct to add more details to the film before resubmitting the membrane.”
The BBC continued. “The storyteller for this film is 13-year-old Abdullah. His father worked as the Deputy Agriculture Minister for the Hamasran government in Gaza. The production team had full editorial control. Filming with Abdullah .”
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The BBC announced the revision after facing backlash from the film “Gaza: How to Survive Warzone.” (Getty Images)
“We followed all of the usual compliance procedures in creating this film, but when we were broadcast after complying with the completed film, we were not informed of this information from an independent producer,” the explanation said. I have concluded. “We believe this film is a powerful child's view of the devastating outcome of the war in Gaza and a valuable testimony to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency. Not there.”
Lisa Nandi, UK Secretary of Culture It was revealed to LBC, A British talk radio station where she plans to meet with BBC Head to discuss the film.
“I saw it last night. It's about talking with them, especially in the way they sourced the people featured in the program,” Nandi said.
She continued, “These things are difficult and I have more attention for the BBC than most broadcasters in terms of how they try to portray these things.” I want to admit that Gaza, they were attacked for being anti-Gaza.
Fox News Digital reached out to the BBC and Nandy for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The BBC repeatedly apologised and issued a retraction in order to report on the Israel-Hamas War. (Yousef Masoud/Mulity World/Universal Images Group/Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Lightrocket
Several UK TV figures have written to the BBC questioning the editorial standards behind the project, asking them to film it in the air and remove it from its platform. As The BBC itself explained itwhich included letters calling for an investigation from actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, “Strike” producer Neil Blair, former BBC One controller Danny Cohen and producer Leo Pearlman.
“If the BBC knew that Abdullah Al-Yazouri was the son of a terrorist leader, why was this not revealed to the audience during the program?” they wrote. “If the BBC didn't know that Abdullah Al-Yazouri was the son of a terrorist leader, what hardworking checks were made and why did they fail?”
“Given the serious nature of these concerns, the BBC will soon postpone the program's recurrence of broadcasting, remove it from iPlayer, and programmes until an independent investigation is conducted and the results are published with full transparency. Social media clips must be removed from the license fee payer” they requested.
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The BBC faced repeated backlash for reporting on the Israel-Hamas War and for their reluctance to describe Hamas as a “terrorist.”
