BBC Gaza Film Deemed a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the details he presented.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
