BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our probe concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent held a role in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to erode the very considerable degrees of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
