BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Media Regulations, Declares Ofcom
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our probe found that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father served in a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
