BBC director general Tim Davie and chair Dr Samir Shah are set to face scrutiny before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee amid backlash to a controversial documentary on Gaza.
The session, scheduled for Tuesday morning, is part of the committee’s ongoing review of the BBC’s operations.
Mr Davie and Dr Shah are expected to address concerns about editorial processes, impartiality, and workplace culture.
The BBC bosses will also likely be questioned on the future of TV distribution, the role and regulation of public service broadcasters, funding, and the financial challenges the BBC faces ahead of the review of its charter, which is due to expire at the end of 2027.
The appearance follows the BBC's apology last week for “serious flaws” in the making of the programme Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone.
The broadcaster removed the documentary from its iPlayer after it emerged that the child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
After conducting an initial review of the programme, the BBC said independent production company Hoyo Films, which made the documentary, had informed it that the boy’s mother had been paid “a limited sum of money for the narration”.
The BBC added that it had no plans to broadcast the documentary again or return it to iPlayer.
In a letter to the BBC on Monday, Ofcom chairman Lord Grade said the regulator could step in if an internal inquiry into the making of the documentary was not satisfactory.
Ofcom had “ongoing concerns about the nature and gravity of these failings and the negative impact they have on the trust audiences place in the BBC’s journalism”, Lord Grade said.
“We will continue to keep the situation under close review and will expect regular updates from the BBC regarding both timeframes and progress and reserve the right to use our powers to step in should we feel it necessary to do so, given that the BBC board has decided these to be internal investigations.”
Over the weekend, the Metropolitan Police said it had received a “number of reports raising concerns”.
Officers from its Counter Terrorism Command were “assessing whether any police action is required in relation to this matter”.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also met the BBC chair on Friday after saying she wanted assurances “that no stone will be left unturned” during a review into the documentary.
After conducting the initial review, a BBC spokesperson said last week that “serious flaws in the making of this programme” had been identified.
They added: “Some of these were made by the production company and some by the BBC; all of them are unacceptable.
“BBC News takes full responsibility for these and the impact that these have had on the corporation’s reputation. We apologise for this.
“Nothing is more important than the trust that our audiences have in our journalism. This incident has damaged that trust.”
Last week, protesters gathered outside Broadcasting House in London claiming the BBC had aired Hamas propaganda.
The broadcaster also faced criticism for pulling the documentary, with more than 500 media figures, including Gary Lineker, Anita Rani, Riz Ahmed and Miriam Margolyes, condemning the action.
In an open letter addressed to Mr Davie, Dr Shah and outgoing chief content officer Charlotte Moore, they called the decision “politically motivated censorship”.
