BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of credibility that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in February after the boy's family links came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
