British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
