British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and language are finalised."
