British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
