BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
