BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
