BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
