British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are determined."
