British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Deemed a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Standards, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a peak-time announcement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the narrator's parent served in a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been extremely pertinent to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the possibility to erode the very considerable degrees of confidence that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in the month of February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which reflects regulation 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are determined."
