BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."