Wes Streeting took aim at the BBC (Image: LBC)
Wes Streeting has become the latest high profile politician to slam the over its recent Gaza documentary, after the corporation removed the film following shocking revelations.
Journalists discovered that the primary teenage narrator of the report was a son of Ayman Alyazouri, Hamas’ deputy minister of agriculture.
The film was shortly taken down from iPlayer amid promises from the to investigate the claims.
Last night the apologised for “serious flaws” over the film, and promised it has “no plans to broadcast the programme again in its current form or return it to iPlayer.”
A spokesman said that both the and the production company had made “unacceptable” flaws and take “full responsibility for these and the impact that these have had on the corporation’s reputation”.
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This morning the Health Secretary said the is now in “a terrible mess” and demanded action.
He told LBC: “The has got itself into a terrible terrible mess here and they need to look at their editorial standards and how they are upheld.
“Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has made it very clear that she expects to see action, improvement and accountability here so the is now undertaking that work. We look forward to hearing the results.”
Last night the claimed they had not been informed of the teenage narrator’s family connection in advance of broadcast by the filming company.
The spokesman added: “During the production process, the independent production company was asked in writing a number of times by the about any potential connections he and his family might have with Hamas.
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The BBC has promised not to re-upload the video to iPlayer (Image: BBC)
“Since transmission, they have acknowledged that they knew that the boy’s father was a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas government; they have also acknowledged that they never told the this fact.
“It was then the ‘s own failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired.”
There are now calls for a full independent inquiry into the row, with critics accusing the internal investigation as the “marking its own homework.”
Danny Cohen, the broadcaster’s former head of television, said: “This is not an occasion when the should be marking its own homework. It is time for the to acknowledge that it has a systemic problem of bias against of which this is the tip of the iceberg.
“The unwillingness of the to address these problems transparently over the last 16 months – and before – is what has led to the debacle of this Gaza documentary…
“The must allow a full independent inquiry to investigate the processes that led to this documentary being produced, and the pervasive anti- bias that allowed it to pass through the system unobstructed.”