BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent occupied a post in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."