BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
