BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
