British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
