British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, Says Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our rules, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a statement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the voice's father held a position in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the very considerable levels of trust that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the timing and language are finalised."
