British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
