BBC Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
