BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement declared: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the center of the connection between a television network and its audience, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that the public would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was pulled from the online platform in February after the boy's family links emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are finalised."
