BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling 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 accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
