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Hello, I'm Alicia McCarthy.

Thanks for downloading the yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Thursday the 27th of February, the Culture Secretary told MPs

that she'd spoken to the BBC's Director-General, Tim Davy,

to get urgent answers from him about a documentary on Gaza.

The corporation is investigating after discovering that the 13-year-old narrator of the film,

Gaza, How to Survive a Warzone, was the son of a Hamas official.

Lisa Nandi told MPs what she'd asked Tim Davy.

About the checks and due diligence that should have been carried out

ahead of the screening of a recent documentary into Gaza, about the commissioning, the payments

and the use of licence fee payers' money. I also sought cast assurances that no money paid

has fallen into the hands of Hamas. The MP who'd asked the minister to come to the Commons,

the Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Stuart Andrew,

said the BBC had a duty to provide accurate and impartial news and information,

but it had fallen short.

Only after significant public backlash did the BBC decide to withdraw it? Then we learned that on at least five occasions,

the words Yehud and Yehidi, Arabic for Jew or Jews, were changed to Israel or Israeli forces, or were

removed from the documentary. And then we learned that up to £400,000 in public funds may have indirectly supported a terrorist organisation.

And he called for a full and independent inquiry.

Lisa Nandy replied,

I would just point him to this, that the BBC is not there as an instrument of government.

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