BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
