British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the core of the connection between a television network and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the risk to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
