British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Infringement of Media Rules, Says UK Media Regulator
The BBC engaged in a "major breach" of industry standards by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas official, as ruled by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the broadcaster to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its findings.
"Given this constitutes a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the BBC to broadcast a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at nine o'clock in the evening, with a timing to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Damage Credibility'
The authority's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the documentary's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was materially misleading.
"This implied that the viewers did not have essential details which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the heart of the connection between a broadcaster and its public, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the potential to erode the very considerable amounts of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A corporation official commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We issued an apology for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the sanction as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
