BBC Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the programme was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Confidence'
The authority's announcement stated: "Our probe determined that the film's omission to reveal that the presenter's father occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled authority was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the core of the relationship between a media organization and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an internal BBC review found it infringed the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
