British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Considered a 'Serious' Breach of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The British broadcaster was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about Gaza was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the broadcaster to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a major infringement of our regulations, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Damage Trust'
The authority's announcement said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a position in the Hamas-administered government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the narrator and the details he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its audience, notably for a national broadcasting corporation such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the potential to undermine the significantly high levels of confidence that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in the month of July an broadcaster's internal assessment found it breached the broadcaster's content policies on truthfulness.
A corporation official stated: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with regulation 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we comply with the regulator's ruling in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."