BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
