British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
