British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be finalised," the statement read.
'Possibility to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a post in the Hamas-administered administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in complete. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
