BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Regulations, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the presenter's parent held a post in the Hamas-run administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the narrator and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This failing had the risk to damage the significantly high degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
