British Broadcasting Corporation Gaza Film Considered a 'Major' Infringement of Broadcasting Regulations, States Ofcom
The BBC committed a "significant breach" of broadcasting rules by omitting to mention that the presenter of a programme about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas representative, according to UK media regulator Ofcom.
An probe by the broadcasting watchdog into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had earlier expressed regret, saying there had been "a serious error in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has instructed the BBC to broadcast a prime-time announcement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are directing the broadcaster to transmit a announcement of our findings against it on the BBC's second channel at 9pm, with a date to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Possibility to Erode Confidence'
The regulator's report said: "Our probe determined that the documentary's failure to disclose that the voice's male guardian served in a position in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"This implied that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been very significant to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the relationship between a television network and its viewers, notably for a public service broadcaster such as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
"This error had the risk to erode the significantly high levels of trust that audiences would have placed in a factual film from the broadcaster about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was withdrawn from iPlayer in February after the narrator's family links emerged, and in the month of July an internal BBC review found it infringed the organization's editorial guidelines on truthfulness.
A BBC spokesperson commented: "The Ofcom ruling is in agreement with the results of the internal assessment, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the corporation's content standards on factual correctness, which aligns with Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We have apologised for this and we comply with the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the penalty as soon as the schedule and wording are finalised."
