BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
