BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."