BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's report stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
