British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Violation of Media Regulations, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation found that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
