British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are directing the BBC to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The authority's statement said: "Our probe concluded that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's father held a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the voice and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its audience, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in February after the narrator's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
