British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are ordering the BBC to air a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
