British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
