British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
