British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
