BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
