British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its audience, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
