BBC Gaza Film Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas administrator, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our rules, we are instructing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Potential to Erode Credibility'
The regulator's report declared: "Our investigation determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the audience did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's family links were revealed, and in the month of July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the organization's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson stated: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which reflects regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in full. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
