BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the very considerable degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the boy's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."