BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
