British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
