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broadcast watchdog Ofcom Sanction has been issued against BBC for breaching its broadcasting code, following the corporation’s failure to disclose links to a narrator Hamas In its documentary, Gaza: how to survive the war zone,
The film, produced for the BBC by independent company Hoyo Films, was removed from BBC iPlayer in February. The action came after it came to light that the child storyteller, Abdullah, Ayman is the son of AliazouriWho has served as Hamas’ Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
Ofcom concluded that the omission of this important information was “really misleading” as “it had the potential to erode the high level of trust expected by viewers in the BBC’s factual program about the Israel–Gaza war”.
As a result of this breach, the BBC has been ordered to broadcast Ofcom’s findings.
In February, a letter addressed to the BBC Director General tim davysent by public figures including friday dinner Actor Tracy-Ann Oberman urged the BBC to remove the documentary from iPlayer, expressing concern about “the editorial standards of this programme”.
Later that month, the BBC announced that an initial review of the program had identified “serious flaws” in its production and that a full fact-finding review was to be conducted by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints and reviews.
In July, the BBC published Findings of its internal review in the case and said it breached one of the BBC’s editorial guidelines on accuracy by failing to disclose information about the child narrator’s father.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Ofcom’s decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston’s review that there was a significant failure in the documentary to comply with the BBC’s editorial guidelines on accuracy, which reflects rule 2.2 of Ofcom’s broadcasting code.
“We have apologized for this and we fully accept Ofcom’s decision.
“We will follow up on the approval as soon as the date and wording are finalized.”