BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent held a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and language are finalised."
