Tim Davie and other BBC executives have demanded a meeting over the airing of a Gaza documentary fronted by a Hamas minister’s son.
Mr Davie will chair crisis talks with other executives to discuss why the corporation decided to broadcast the controversial documentary, which has been branded Hamas propaganda by critics.
On Friday, the broadcaster removed Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone from BBC iPlayer, having already issued an apology over its failure to disclose the links of the child narrators to the Hamas-run government.
Mr Davie and Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, are both said to have demanded an explanation for the fiasco amid mounting accusations of BBC bias.
A source close to the board told The Sunday Times: “The BBC is currently doing additional diligence on the documentary and the board will want to see the outcome of that work once complete.”
They continued: “The board has a scheduled meeting later this week where this matter is on the agenda.”
The documentary, which originally aired on Monday evening and was scheduled to show again two days later, provided an account of the conflict through the eyes of three ordinary Palestinian children.
The corporation subsequently issued an apology on Wednesday night, after it emerged the central figure and narrator, the then 13-year-old Abdullah al-Yazouri, was the son of Ayman al-Yazouri, the deputy minister of agriculture in the Hamas-run government.
The corporation issued an apology on Wednesday night after it emerged Abdullah al-Yazouri’s father is a Hamas minister – BBC/Amjad Al Fayoumi
It then emerged that another of the three children who are the central protagonists of the film was the daughter of a former captain in the Hamas-run police force, while the third had been photographed posing with Hamas fighters.
The BBC said it “had not been informed” of the connection by the documentary’s producers before it was broadcast.
Following growing criticism, the corporation added a disclaimer to the film, admitting Abdullah’s family link to Hamas but continuing to insist the documentary makers had “full editorial control”.
As further revelations emerged about the other children, critics demanded it be pulled entirely from the BBC’s schedules.
Dozens of prominent media and broadcasting figures signed an open letter to the BBC’s director-general urging him to withdraw the documentary.
On Thursday, Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, said she would hold urgent discussions with the broadcaster over the documentary to emphasise the importance of “getting it right”.
The BBC eventually pulled the programme and said it was “conducting further due diligence with the production company”.
