BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to air a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our investigation concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the date and wording are determined."
