BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary 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 corporation's own inquiry found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
