BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
