BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and language are determined."
