British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter 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 documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the programme's omission to reveal that the presenter's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the very considerable amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are finalised."
