BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
