British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The authority's statement declared: "Our probe found that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father served in a role in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"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 language are determined."
