British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."