BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the corporation to broadcast a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The authority's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
