BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
