BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The authority's report stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in July an internal BBC review found it infringed the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error 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 comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
