BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The regulator's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's parent served in a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high degrees of confidence that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review determined it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and language are finalised."
