BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
