British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's statement said: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's father occupied a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it violated the organization's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
