British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our probe found that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
