BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings 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 regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are determined."
