British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a evening statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a role in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
