BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the child of a Hamas administrator, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the broadcaster to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the corporation to air a message of our determinations against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a date to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report said: "Our investigation concluded that the film's failure to disclose that the presenter's father held a post in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the voice and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the very considerable degrees of credibility that the public would have invested in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in the month of February after the boy's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it breached the organization's editorial guidelines on accuracy.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
