British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, States Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a major oversight in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has instructed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the very considerable degrees of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was withdrawn from the online platform in the month of February after the narrator's personal associations were revealed, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on truthfulness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
