British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
