British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the significantly high levels of trust that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
