British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Rules, Declares UK Media Regulator
The BBC committed a "major breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a programme about Gaza was the child of a Hamas administrator, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has ordered the corporation to transmit a evening statement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a schedule to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Trust'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the voice and the information he shared.
"Credibility is at the heart of the bond between a television network and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high amounts of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The film was withdrawn from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections were revealed, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
