British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Serious' Infringement of Media Rules, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run government was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the narrator's family links were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
