British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
