British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
