BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
