BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
