British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a evening statement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a statement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the narrator's male guardian held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the significantly high degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment determined it breached the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the sanction as soon as the date and language are determined."