British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its conclusions.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it breached the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
