British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
