BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
