BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable amounts of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
