BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement said: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent 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 extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "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 BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are determined."
