British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's father held a role in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
