British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
