BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
