British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
