British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
