BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to broadcast a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
