🔗 Share this article

The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.

An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".

The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".

The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.

"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the statement read.

'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'

The watchdog's statement said: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.

"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the content he presented.

"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.

"This oversight had the potential to damage the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."

The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.

A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.

"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."