BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our probe found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent served in a role in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to erode the exceptionally strong amounts of credibility that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the boy's family links were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
