BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Significant' Infringement of Media Standards, Says Ofcom
The public service broadcaster engaged in a "significant breach" of media regulations by failing to disclose that the presenter of a film about the Gaza conflict was the son of a Hamas official, as determined by regulatory body Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "materially misleading".
The head of the BBC had previously apologised, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The regulator has ordered the BBC to transmit a prime-time statement about its decisions.
"Since this amounts to a major infringement of our rules, we are directing the corporation to broadcast a announcement of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at 21:00, with a date to be confirmed," it said.
'Risk to Erode Confidence'
The authority's statement said: "Our probe determined that the programme's failure to disclose that the voice's parent occupied a role in the Hamas-controlled administration was substantially inaccurate.
"Consequently that the viewers did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their judgment of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Trust is at the center of the bond between a broadcaster and its public, especially for a state-funded media outlet such as the BBC.
"This oversight had the possibility to undermine the exceptionally strong amounts of trust that audiences would have put in a BBC factual programme about the conflict in Gaza."
The programme was pulled from the online platform in last February after the presenter's familial connections emerged, and in July an internal BBC review concluded it infringed the broadcaster's journalistic standards on accuracy.
A BBC spokesperson said: "The authority's determination is in line with the findings of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a significant failing in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which reflects clause 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the regulator's ruling in full. We will follow the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are confirmed."
