BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Broadcasting Standards, States UK Media Regulator
The public service broadcaster was found to have committed a "serious breach" of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose that the voice of a programme about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to accuracy".
The authority has directed the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its findings.
"As this represents a major infringement of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a statement of our conclusions against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a timing to be confirmed," it said.
'Possibility to Erode Credibility'
The authority's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the programme's lack of disclosure that the voice's father occupied a post in the Hamas-controlled authority was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the public did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their assessment of the presenter and the content he presented.
"Credibility is at the heart of the connection between a television network and its viewers, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the risk to undermine the exceptionally strong degrees of trust that the public would have placed in a documentary produced by the BBC about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in the month of February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in this past July an broadcaster's internal assessment concluded it violated the corporation's content policies on truthfulness.
A representative for the broadcaster said: "The regulator's decision is in agreement with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the documentary in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on truthfulness, which aligns with clause 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in its entirety. We will comply with the directive as soon as the date and language are determined."
