BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-run administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the significantly high degrees of confidence that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
