BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry 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 significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
