The UK media watchdog on Friday sanctioned the BBC for a Gaza documentary whose child narrator was later revealed to be the son of Hamas’s former deputy minister of agriculture, branding it “materially misleading”.
The broadcaster earlier this year apologised for “serious flaws” in the making of “Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone” and pulled it from its platform after a backlash.
The broadcaster said it shared the blame for the “unacceptable” flaws with UK production company Hoyo Films.
Ofcom said the programme had been a serious breach of its broadcasting code because of the “potential to erode the very high levels of trust audiences would have expected in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war.”
“This is particularly pertinent in the case of a public service broadcaster such as the BBC,” it added.
As a sanction, the BBC will be required to broadcast a statement of the watchdog’s findings at a later date, it said.
The BBC said it accepted Ofcom’s ruling because the documentary, initially broadcast on February 17, had failed to disclose the relationship.
“We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom’s decision in full,” it said.
“We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised,” it added.
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