BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
