British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Programme Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas representative, as determined by UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the broadcasting watchdog into the programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
Ofcom has directed the BBC to air a evening announcement about its findings.
"As this represents a significant violation of our regulations, we are instructing the BBC to broadcast a announcement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be determined," the statement read.
'Possibility to Damage Trust'
The authority's statement stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the narrator's male guardian served in a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the public did not have vital facts which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the content he presented.
"Confidence is at the core of the connection between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a state-funded media outlet such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the risk to undermine the very considerable levels of confidence that audiences would have invested in a BBC factual programme about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was pulled from iPlayer in last February after the boy's familial connections came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it infringed the corporation's content policies on accuracy.
A representative for the broadcaster commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the date and wording are confirmed."
