British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
