BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line 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 truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
