BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
