BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links came to light, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
