British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a evening declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
