British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
