BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are ordering the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The regulator's announcement said: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of credibility that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
