BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the BBC to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our probe determined that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to erode the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement 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 accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are finalised."