BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report stated: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent held a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of trust that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
