BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a evening declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to undermine the very considerable amounts of credibility that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
