British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Deemed a 'Significant' Violation of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An investigation by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, noting there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the corporation to air a evening statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our code, we are instructing the BBC to transmit a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," it said.
'Potential to Erode Trust'
The watchdog's report said: "The inquiry we conducted found that the film's lack of disclosure that the presenter's parent served in a post in the Hamas-controlled government was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the information he presented.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong levels of credibility that audiences would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the BBC's streaming service in last February after the presenter's family links emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry concluded it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the internal assessment, that there was a serious error 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 have apologised for this and we agree with the authority's determination in complete. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
