BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The authority's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father served in a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and language are determined."
