BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
