BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Media Regulations, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the corporation to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a timing to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Damage Credibility'
The authority's announcement stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-controlled government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review found it violated the broadcaster's content policies on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
