BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised 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 confirmed."
