BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."