BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to undermine the significantly high amounts of confidence that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, 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 complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
