BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing 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 date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an internal BBC review found it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
