BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, Says Ofcom
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of industry standards by not revealing that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas official, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a serious error in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to broadcast a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our regulations, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at 9pm, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Undermine Credibility'
The watchdog's statement declared: "Our investigation found that the documentary's failure to disclose that the presenter's father served in a role in the Hamas-administered government was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he provided.
"Trust is at the heart of the bond between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This error had the potential to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of confidence that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in the month of February after the boy's personal associations emerged, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The authority's determination is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will follow the directive as soon as the date and language are confirmed."
