British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
