British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to transmit a peak-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our investigation determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
