British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
