BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent held a role in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results 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 aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
