British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the narrator of a film about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas official, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has ordered the BBC to broadcast a evening declaration about its conclusions.
"As this represents a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a schedule to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The watchdog's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's male guardian occupied a role in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the narrator and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the core of the relationship between a broadcaster and its audience, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to erode the exceptionally strong levels of trust that the public would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in the month of July an internal BBC review determined it breached the corporation's content policies on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in full. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the timing and wording are finalised."
