BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to air a evening announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to air a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it infringed the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
