British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, 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 the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
