BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which corresponds to 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 directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
