BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the corporation to transmit a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's family links came to light, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
