BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
