BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe 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 already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review determined it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
