BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
