BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
