BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a evening statement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a television network and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
