British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-run authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a television network and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
