BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The authority's statement stated: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
