BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, 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 the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
