BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the very considerable degrees of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and language are finalised."