British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "major breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has instructed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be finalised," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "Our probe found that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent occupied a position in the Hamas-run authority was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the details he shared.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to undermine the significantly high levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was removed from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an internal BBC review determined it violated the broadcaster's content policies on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results 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 corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
