BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
