BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that viewers would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
