British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the significantly high degrees of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and language are determined."
