The BBC's director general told MPs he decided to pull a documentary from iPlayer about children's lives in Gaza because he "lost trust" in it.
The BBC has already apologised over "serious flaws" in the making of Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
Tim Davie said he removed the film while concerns raised about the boy's connections to Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK - were investigated.
The independent company behind the film has said it asked if the boy had any Hamas connections but none were disclosed. The BBC has also said the corporation should have done more to uncover the link.
Davie said on Tuesday the BBC had received about 500 complaints that the film was biased against Israel and another 1,800 over its removal from iPlayer.
Hoyo Films, the independent company that made the documentary for the BBC, has said it is "cooperating fully" with the BBC to "help understand where mistakes have been made".
The initial internal review by the BBC found Hoyo had paid a member of the boy's family "a limited sum of money for the narration".
Concerns were raised when it aired last month because it centred on a boy called Abdullah - who it later transpired is the son of Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
"There were specific concerns – specific questions – about the father of the boy. And as we dug into it, we found out we were not told," Davie told the Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday.
The BBC has already apologised over "serious flaws" in the making of Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
Tim Davie said he removed the film while concerns raised about the boy's connections to Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK - were investigated.
The independent company behind the film has said it asked if the boy had any Hamas connections but none were disclosed. The BBC has also said the corporation should have done more to uncover the link.
Davie said on Tuesday the BBC had received about 500 complaints that the film was biased against Israel and another 1,800 over its removal from iPlayer.
Hoyo Films, the independent company that made the documentary for the BBC, has said it is "cooperating fully" with the BBC to "help understand where mistakes have been made".
The initial internal review by the BBC found Hoyo had paid a member of the boy's family "a limited sum of money for the narration".
Concerns were raised when it aired last month because it centred on a boy called Abdullah - who it later transpired is the son of Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
"There were specific concerns – specific questions – about the father of the boy. And as we dug into it, we found out we were not told," Davie told the Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday.
9 months ago
