BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has ordered the corporation to broadcast a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The authority's statement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
