BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
