BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Significant' Violation of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The British broadcaster committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to air a prime-time declaration about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to broadcast a message of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Potential to Damage Credibility'
The watchdog's announcement said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's father occupied a role in the Hamas-administered administration was materially misleading.
"It meant that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their judgment of the narrator and the information he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The documentary was removed from iPlayer in last February after the narrator's familial connections emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it violated the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The authority's determination is in accordance with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a major oversight in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
