British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator 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 previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
The authority has instructed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the broadcaster to transmit a message of our conclusions against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a schedule to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the very considerable amounts of confidence that viewers would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
