BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and language are confirmed."
