BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our investigation found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and language are determined."
