British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
