British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog 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 earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
