British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
