BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
