British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe found that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
