BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
