British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
