British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
