British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
