BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's family links came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
