BBC Gaza Programme Considered a 'Significant' Breach of Media Standards, Declares Ofcom
The BBC engaged in a "serious breach" of industry standards by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to regulatory body Ofcom.
An investigation by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has determined that the documentary was "materially misleading".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to accuracy".
Ofcom has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time declaration about its findings.
"Since this amounts to a serious breach of our regulations, we are instructing the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on BBC2 at 21:00, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Undermine Credibility'
The authority's report declared: "Our probe determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's male guardian served in a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was significantly deceptive.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the voice and the content he shared.
"Confidence is at the heart of the bond between a broadcaster and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the public broadcaster.
"This failing had the potential to undermine the significantly high amounts of credibility that viewers would have placed in a BBC factual programme about the Israel-Gaza war."
The programme was withdrawn from the BBC's streaming service in February after the narrator's personal associations came to light, and in July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it breached the corporation's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A corporation official said: "The Ofcom ruling is in accordance with the findings of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a serious error in the documentary in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the authority's broadcasting regulations.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will follow the penalty as soon as the timing and wording are confirmed."
