BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology 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 determined."
