British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and language are determined."
