BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
