BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
