BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
