BBC battles to contain MasterChef UK scandal as regulator flags Gaza doco probe
The announcement marked a dark day for the broadcaster, as it came at the same time as a report into allegations against MasterChef UK host Gregg Wallace found that dozens of misconduct allegations made against him were upheld.
The law firm-led report said 45 out of the 83 allegations made against Wallace during his time on the show between 2005 and 2018 were substantiated. Most related to 'inappropriate sexual language and humour', with a smaller number of allegations about Wallace 'being in a state of undress' and one incident of unwelcome physical contact.
The broadcaster removed the program, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, from its streaming service in February after it emerged that the 13-year-old narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture.
Ofcom, the media regulator, said that it was launching an investigation under rules that state factual programs must not materially mislead the audience.
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That came after a review by the broadcaster found that the independent production company that made the program didn't share the background information regarding the narrator's father with the BBC. It said that the production company, Hoyo Films, bears most responsibility for the failure, though it didn't 'intentionally' mislead the BBC.
The review, conducted by the corporation's director of editorial complaints, found no other breaches of editorial guidelines, including impartiality.
There was no evidence of 'outside interests' impacting on the program, it said.
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