BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the boy's family links came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
