BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry 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 previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach 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 timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
