British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Deemed a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film 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 authority has ordered the broadcaster to broadcast a evening announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are ordering the broadcaster to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Confidence'
The regulator's announcement stated: "Our investigation found that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent held a position in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the center of the bond between a media organization and its public, especially for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the potential to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's family links came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the results of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
