BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the corporation to air a announcement 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.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
