British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
