BBC Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has directed the corporation to broadcast a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our code, we are instructing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," the statement read.
'Risk to Damage Confidence'
The regulator's statement stated: "Our probe concluded that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a television network and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the exceptionally strong degrees of confidence that audiences would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
