BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention 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 the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
