British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation found that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
