British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
