BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of credibility that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
