BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Media Standards, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's report declared: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-administered administration was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The documentary was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and language are confirmed."
