British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
