British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and language are determined."
