BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
