US EditionBBC Gaza documentary breached broadcasting code, Ofcom finds
- Ofcom concluded the programme misled viewers, sanctioning the BBC for breaching the Broadcasting Code by failing to disclose links to Hamas in Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.
- The BBC did not disclose the narrator's family links, failing to reveal he was the son of a Hamas official, which Ofcom said was materially misleading to audiences.
- Pulled from iPlayer in February, the documentary was removed after the narrator's family links emerged, and an internal BBC review in July found accuracy failings, prompting an apology from the BBC director general.
- Ofcom has ordered a prime-time corrective statement on BBC2 at 21:00, and a BBC spokesperson said they accept the ruling and will comply soon, aligning with Peter Johnston's review.
- The ruling raises questions about editorial transparency in reporting on Gaza, as Ofcom emphasised audiences lacked critical information and the BBC accepted the decision, apologising and pledging to comply with Rule 2.2 soon.
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90 Articles
UK media regulator finds BBC in 'serious breach' of rules for documentary featuring son of Hamas terrorist
U.K. media regulator Ofcom found BBC in "serious breach" of rules for featuring the son of a Hamas official as a narrator in a Gaza documentary without disclosing it to viewers.
The British media regulator Ofcom concluded that BBC had committed a "serious violation" of broadcasting rules in the production and screening of the documentary "Gaza: How to Live in the War Zone".
The British network had not revealed that the narrator was the underage son of a Hamas official.
The British media agency has sanctioned the BBC for documenting the Gaza Strip, the reason being that the narrator had turned out to be the son of a former deputy Hamas minister, a serious violation of the Broadcasting Code. The media agency described the documentary as "misleading and demanded from the BBC a statement from the supervisory authority. "We have apologized for this and we accept the decision of Ofcom (supervisory authority, note), …
BBC Gaza Documentary Broke Broadcast Rules, UK Media Regulator Finds
The U.K.’s media regulator Ofcom found the BBC’s documentary “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone” violated its rules by “materially misleading” viewers by not disclosing that the film’s young narrator was the son of a Hamas official. The government regulator found the documentary’s lack of disclosure “meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information …
"Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone" has four young people in the war zone described their perspective, but 13-year-old Abdullah is the son of a senior Hamas member. The BBC apologized.
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