The Gaza documentary has already been pulled from iPlayer.
Picture:
BBC/Amjad Al Fayoumi/Hoyo Films
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has sanctioned the BBC over the airing of its controversial Gaza documentary, branding the film “materially misleading”.
The sanctions come after the regulator deemed the corporation to have breached the Broadcasting Code over the airing of ‘Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone’.
First broadcast in February, the documentary failed to disclosure the narrator’s links to Hamas.
Counter-terror police were “assessing” the BBC’s controversial Gaza documentary following its airing, after it was revealed that the film’s child narrator was in fact the son of Ayman Alyazouri, Hamas’ deputy minister of agriculture.
It led Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to question why the BBC has not yet to fired anyone following the airing of a controversial documentary.
Read more: Starmer ‘concerned’ by controversial Gaza documentary as BBC apologises for ‘serious flaws’
The regulator said the failure to disclose that the 13-year-old boy’s links to the Hamas-run government broke broadcasting rules – something it “materially misleading” not to mention it.
The regulator ultimately deemed the breach ‘to be serious’ and as a result, “warranted the imposition of a sanction”.
Made by independent production company Hoyo Films, How To Survive A Warzone follows narrator Abdullah al Yazouri, as he talks the audience through life in wartorn Gaza.
After the documentary was aired, the production company heading up the project revealed the boy’s father was a member of the Hamas government – but did not disclose this to the BBC.
The company also paid the boy’s mother via his sister’s bank account.
It comes after the BBC admitted in July of this year to a breach of its own guidelines in relation to the documentary.
Made by independent production company Hoyo Films, How To Survive A Warzone was deemed to be “materially misleading”.
Picture:
Alamy
Ofcom found the audience was deprived of “critical information” which could have been “highly relevant” to their understanding of the documentary.
In response, the BBC said it “accept(s) Ofcom’s decision in full”.
The BBC has previously said some flaws were made by the production company and others were made by itself – but all were “unacceptable”.
The documentary will not be broadcast again in its current form or return to iPlayer, the BBC confirmed.
The BBC said some flaws were made by the production company and others were made by itself – but all were “unacceptable”.
Picture:
Alamy
In a statement, a spokesperson for Ofcom said: “Our investigation found that the programme’s failure to disclose that the narrator’s father held a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
“It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
“Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
“This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war.”