BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to undermine the very considerable degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
