BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed 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The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and language are finalised."