BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Major' Breach of Broadcasting Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the child of a Hamas representative, as ruled by regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The BBC's director general had previously apologised, stating there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to broadcast a peak-time statement about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the BBC to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," the statement read.
'Potential to Undermine Confidence'
The watchdog's statement said: "The inquiry we conducted determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the narrator's father held a position in the Hamas-administered authority was significantly deceptive.
"Consequently that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Credibility is at the core of the connection between a media organization and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of trust that audiences would have put in a documentary produced by the BBC about the Israel-Gaza war."
The film was pulled from the online platform in February after the presenter's family links came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it violated the broadcaster's journalistic standards on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."