British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the corporation to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the significantly high amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
