BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-controlled government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
