BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, 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 sanction as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
