BBC Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, States Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a film about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to transmit a peak-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's announcement declared: "Our probe found that the film's omission to reveal that the narrator's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the narrator's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the programme in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with the regulator's ruling in its entirety. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
