British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Media Rules, Declares Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "major breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a documentary about the Gaza situation was the son of a Hamas administrator, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the programme was "significantly deceptive".
The BBC's director general had already issued an apology, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to factual correctness".
The regulator has directed the corporation to air a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our rules, we are directing the corporation to air a statement of our determinations against it on BBC Two at 21:00, with a date to be determined," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Undermine Trust'
The regulator's statement said: "Our investigation concluded that the programme's failure to disclose that the presenter's male guardian held a position in the Hamas-run government was materially misleading.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the details he provided.
"Trust is at the core of the relationship between a television network and its public, particularly for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This error had the possibility to damage the significantly high levels of confidence that the public would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The film was removed from iPlayer in last February after the presenter's personal associations came to light, and in this past July an corporation's own inquiry determined it breached the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the conclusions of the internal assessment, that there was a significant failing in the film in relation to the broadcaster's journalistic policies on accuracy, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of the regulator's media standards.
"We expressed regret for this and we agree with Ofcom's decision in complete. We will adhere to the directive as soon as the date and wording are determined."
