BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father served in a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
