BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Major' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States Ofcom
The British broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a programme about the Gaza situation was the child of a Hamas administrator, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has instructed the corporation to broadcast a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are directing the BBC to air a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be determined," it said.
'Risk to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's omission to reveal that the voice's male guardian held a post in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the public did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the very considerable levels of trust that the public would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was removed from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's familial connections were revealed, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the broadcaster's editorial guidelines on factual correctness.
A representative for the broadcaster stated: "The Ofcom ruling is in line with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
