The committed a “serious breach” of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, UK media regulator Ofcom has ruled.
An Ofcom investigation into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme misled viewers.
“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,” the watchdog said.
“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.”
The ‘s director general has previously apologised, saying there had been “a significant failing in relation to accuracy”.
Ofcom has ordered the to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
“As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on 2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed,” it said.
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in February after the boy’s family links emerged, and in July an internal review found it breached editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A spokesperson said: “The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston’s review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the ‘s Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code.
“We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom’s decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised.”
