BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
