British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
