BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
