British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
