British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
