BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the BBC to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report declared: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of credibility that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
