Lisa Nandy ‘exasperated’ by length of Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone review

The culture secretary is ‘exasperated’ over the time it is taking for the BBC to carry out a review of the documentary Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone, and asked why nobody at the broadcaster has yet been fired.  

Lisa Nandy made the comments in an interview with The Times over the weekend, saying: “People must be accountable for the decisions that were taken.” 

“I have asked the question to the board: Why has nobody been fired? What I want is an explanation as to why not. If it is a sackable offence then obviously that should happen. But if the BBC, which is independent, considers that it is not, I think what all parliamentarians want to know is why,” she added.  

She added that she has not yet had an explanation from director general Tim Davie or chair Samir Shah. 

The BBC apologised in February over “serious flaws” in the making of the film, after it emerged that its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas minister. 

The fact-finding review into the Hoyo Films doc, which is being led by director of editorial complaints and reviews Peter Johnston, has been underway for three months and is expected to be published this week. 

A BBC spokesperson said: “The findings of the review will be published as soon as possible. As we have said previously, it is vital that this work is done as quickly as possible, but it must also be thorough and follow a proper process.” 

The culture secretary’s latest comments follow weeks of controversy around the BBC’s coverage of the Israel/Gaza conflict, including last month’s decision not to broadcast Basement’s Films’ doc Gaza: Doctors Under Attack which instead aired on Channel 4, and a live stream of antisemitic chants by the punk band Bob Vylan at Glastonbury . 

“The BBC leadership have got to get a grip on it,” Nandy told the paper. 

“It makes me angry on behalf of the BBC staff and the whole creative industries in this country. Particularly the Jewish community who deserved far better than what happened at the weekend. Action has to be forthcoming.”