BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "Our investigation found that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
