BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
