British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions 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 Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
