British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
