BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the information he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
