BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
