BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's report said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
