BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official 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 broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
