BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable degrees of credibility that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
