BBC Gaza Programme Ruled a 'Serious' Violation of Media Rules, Says Broadcasting Watchdog
The BBC was found to have committed a "serious breach" of media regulations by omitting to mention that the voice of a documentary about the Gaza conflict was the offspring of a Hamas representative, as determined by British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An inquiry by the media regulator into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has concluded that the film was "significantly deceptive".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had already issued an apology, noting there had been "a significant failing in relation to truthfulness".
The authority has directed the corporation to transmit a evening declaration about its findings.
"As this represents a serious breach of our code, we are ordering the corporation to air a statement of our findings against it on BBC Two at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be finalised," the regulator stated.
'Potential to Erode Confidence'
The authority's statement declared: "Our investigation determined that the documentary's lack of disclosure that the voice's parent served in a position in the Hamas-run government was significantly deceptive.
"It meant that the public did not have vital facts which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the information he provided.
"Confidence is at the heart of the connection between a media organization and its public, especially for a public service broadcaster such as the BBC.
"This failing had the risk to damage the exceptionally strong levels of trust that viewers would have invested in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was withdrawn from the online platform in last February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in the month of July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the organization's content policies on factual correctness.
A corporation official commented: "The regulator's decision is in line with the conclusions of the corporation's inquiry, that there was a serious error in the programme in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on accuracy, which corresponds to regulation 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept Ofcom's decision in full. We will comply with the directive as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
