BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its audience, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it violated the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."
