BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to transmit a peak-time declaration about its decisions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to transmit a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "Our probe determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of confidence that audiences would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
