British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of trust that the public 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The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and language are finalised."
