British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Rules, States UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator 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 serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our rules, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the bond between a television network and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to erode the exceptionally strong degrees of credibility that viewers would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the organization's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the date and wording are determined."
