BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to erode the significantly high levels of credibility that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
