BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the public did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."